^£e DREAM OF 
GERONTIUS — 

CARDINAL NEWMAN 



■MM 



MMl 



MAURICE F.EGAN,LL.D. 



«MM 



awiM 



w i iiii iiU Mii unmiiumw Hwt 





Class I?_5^_e_z 

Book 

CoipghtW. 




i^o3 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 




JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 

From a drawing by G. Richmond in the possession of 
H. E. Wilberforce, Esq. [By permission.] 



THE 



DREAM OF GERONTIUS 



BY 

CARDINAL NEWMAN 



WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
BY 

MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, A.M., LL.D. 

Professor o/ English Language and Literature in the Catholic 
University of Ainerica^ Washington^ D. C. 



1 

> 



3 > 

J 

3 > 3 



>> -•-> 



> 



i 3^3 






LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO 
91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
LONDON AND BOMBAY 
1903 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONOkESS, 

T*vo Copies Receivett 

OCT 15 1903 ] 

« Copyright tntry | 



I 



nilih^ii I 



6. ^ ^ / 

COPY ti 



?/f 



ha :3 



Copyright, 1903, 

BY 

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 



All rights reserved 



*c 



«-c c ' t 



C ( 

• « 
« • • 



C, •««.•€ 



c c « a 

c c 

4 C C C 

« « 



ROBERT DKUMMOND. PRfNTER. NEW YORK- 



FRATRI DESIDERATISSIMO 

JOANNI JOSEPH GORDON 

ORATORII S.P.N. PRESBYTERO 
CUJUS ANIMA IN REFRIGERIUM 

J. H. N. 



In die Confm. 

Otnn. Fid. DeJ, 

1865 



INTRODUCTION 

As a rule, when Cardinal Newman's poetry is men- 
tioned, people think of "The Pillar of the Cloud," bet- 
ter known as "Lead, Kindly Light." This lyric is 
only one of the many beautiful poems written by an 
author whose fame as a writer of the finest modern 
prose in the English language has eclipsed his reputa- 
tion as a poet. Nevertheless, he wrote a very great 
poem, "The Dream of Gerontius " — a poem which the 
intellectual world admires more and more every year, 
and which yields its best only after careful study and 
consideration. It has been described as a metrical 
meditation on death. It is more than that; it is the 
realization by means of a loving heart and a poetic 
imagination of the state of a just soul after death, — 
Gerontius typifying not the soul of a particular person 
imagined by Cardinal Newman, but your soul, my soul, 
any soul which may be fortunate enough to satisfy the 
judging and merciful God. No poet has ever pre- 
sented the condition of the soul, as made known by 
the theology of the Catholic Church, so forcibly and 
appealingly as Cardinal Newman. The poem is filled 
with intense white fight, and the soul on earth sees itself 



2 INTRODUCTION 

as it will be at the moment before its death; as it will be 
when, strengthened by the last sacraments and upborne 
by the prayers of its friends, it approaches the bar of 
judgment. Separated from the body until the day of 
the Resurrection, when it shall be united to that glorified 
body, it is not sundered by death from the love of those 
who have loved it on earth. Gerontius about to be judged 
feels that he must fail 

"And drop from out the universal frame 
Into that shapeless, scopeless, blank abyss, 
That utter nothingness" 

from which the soul came, and, in its depths of fear, 
it pleads silently that its friends in Christ may pray for 
it. The dread of annihilation is upon it; it fears "the 
great deep" ^ to which it goes. And, in the agony of 
its rending from the beloved body, it thinks — for 
it can no longer speak — of the horror of nothing- 
ness. All its physical supports are gone. Its eyes are 
darkening and glazing; its feet motionless and cold; 
its arms and hands rigid. To those in the sick-room 
the body once so beautiful, 

"from the graced decorum of the hair 
Ev'n to the tingling sweet 
Soles of the simple, earth -confiding feet,"^ 

is now white as white marble and as lifeless. But the 
soul is not dead, though the earthly parts of the body 

^ From Merlin's song in Tennyson's "Coming of Arthur." 
^ Coventry Patmore's "Ode to the Body." 



INTRODUCTION 3 

appear to be, and it hears the prayers of the Church 
for the dying as the supreme moment of its departure 
from the body is at hand. Some of these prayers, 
translated from the Latin, the author puts into the 
mouths of the assistants. They have all the refreshing 
strength that the Church gives; they represent the suppH- 
cation of millions of devout souls bound to this dying 
brother in the communion of saints. The soul gains 
new strength from these prayers; it arouses itself; sees 
God through the ruin of the world, and wills to be wholly 
His. The assistants by the bedside redouble their sup- 
pHcations in the sacred words of the Litany for the 
Dying, which Cardinal Newman again interprets in 
English verse, though the Litany is in the Latin tongue. 
Again, the soul gains strength for a moment, and calls, 
in the universal speech of the Church, for strength, 
and that, ''out of the depths," ^ the holy God might save 
it. Then it uses its will to believe, and within itself as- 
serts the creed of the Church, which is musically inter- 
preted by the poet: 

" Firmly I believe and truly 

God is Three, and God is One, 
And I next acknowledge duly 
Manhood taken by the Son." 

The moment of agony, the moment of the realization 
of the soul that it is alone, bereft of its support, is ter- 

*From the Psalm, "De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine." — 
" Out of the depths have I cried to Thee, O Lord." 



4 INTRODUCTION 

rible but short. In the "Inferno" of Dante, with 
all its objective horrors, there are no lines so terrible as 
these, which show the spirit naked, wild with horror 
and dismay: 

"And worse and worse, 
Some bodily form of ill 

Floats on the wind, with many a loathsome curse 
Tainting the hallowed air, and laughs and flaps 
Its hideous wings." 

We can imagine the scene in the room in which Geron- 
tius is dying. The priest, in his surphce and violet 
stole, has sprinkled the chamber and the persons present 
with holy water, using the form of the cross, and has 
said the Asperges: 

" Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be 
cleansed: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made 
whiter than snow." 

Gerontius has kissed the crucifix, and it is still before 
him. In the glow of the lighted candle the "Litany 
for the Dying" is recited by the priest and the "assist- 
ants," that is to say, all in the room who will pray. The 
passing of the soul may not have occupied a second, as 
we reckon time, and yet, as "The Dream of Geron- 
tius" suggests, the soul, sensitive and vital, may live 
through what might seem to be a hundred years. As 
soon as it appears that the soul has departed, the priest 
says: 

"Subvenite, Sancti Dei, occurrite Angeli Domini, 



INTRODUCTION 5 

Suscipientes animam ejus, Offerentes earn in conspectu 

Altissimi." ^ 

This prayer dwells last in the ears of Gerontius. He 

has slept for a moment, refreshed by the Church, and 

he awakes to find himself free. 

"I had a dream; yes: some one softly said 
'He's gone,' and then a sigh went round the room, 
And then I surely heard a priestly voice 
Cry 'Subvenite,' and they knelt in prayer." ^ 

The soul, borne forward on its way to the Judge, hears 

the song of its Guardian Angel, whose work is done. As 

the soul proceeds, the voices of the demons are heard ; 

they express the pride of those who defy God. They 

cry out: 

"Virtue and vice, 
A knave's pretence, 
'Tis all the same." 

The soul wonders why it cannot move hand or foot, 
and the angel says: 

"Nor hast thou now extension, with its parts 
Correlative, — long habit cozens thee, — 
Nor power to move thyself, nor limbs to move." 

^"Come to his assistance, ye saints of God; come forth to 
meet him, ye angels of the Lord: Receiving his soul: Offering it 
in the sight of the Most High." 

^ This passage in "The Dream of Gerontius" calls to mind 
Tennyson's lines in "The Princess ": 

"Ah, sad and strange, as in dark summer dawns 
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds 
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes 
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square." 



6 INTRODUCTION 

So infinitesimal has the time been since the soul left 
the body that the " Subvenite " is not yet finished when the 
soul is at the very throne of Judgment: 

"I hear the voices that I left on earth." 

The angel answers: 

** It is the voice of friends around thy bed 
Who say the 'Subvenite' with the priest." 

The angel of the Agony supplicates for the soul, as 

for its brother, and then the eager spirit darts forward 

alone to the feet of God. Gerontius is judged ; he passes 

lovingly to Purgatory. His Guardian Angel says : 

"And ye great powers, 
Angels of Purgatory, receive from me 
My charge, a precious soul, until the day 
When, from all bond and forfeiture released, 
I shall reclaim it for the courts of light." 

Waiting until he shall enter into the full glory of the 

Lord, Gerontius is left by the poet. This soul knows 

now what it did not know on earth, — what the real 

happiness of Heaven is; "it measures the distance which 

separates itself from this happiness. It understands how 

infinite this distance is, through its own fault. It suft^ers 

terribly. Its sorrow grows with its love, as it loves God 

more and more with all the fibres of its being; it is 

drawn by vital and mighty bonds towards the object 

of its love, but each bond is broken by the weight of its 

faults, which like a mass of lead holds it down." ^ 

^ La Psychologic du Purgatoire (The Psychology of Purgatory) : 
Abbe Chollet, Doctor of Theology at Lille. 



INTRODUCTION^ 7 

There can be no question as to the correspondence 
of the teaching of Cardinal Newman with the theology 
of the Catholic Church. Dante is put by Raphael, in 
the famous picture, the Disputa, among the Doctors of 
the Church, and the author of "The Dream of Geron- 
tius" would have merited a similar honor even if he 
had never been created ^ a Cardinal. 

For advanced students interested in the study of litera- 
ture a comparative reading of " The Dream of Gerontius" 
with the "Purgatorio" of Dante, Book III, Milton's 
"Paradise Lost," Rossetti's "The Blessed Damosel, " 
and Tennyson's "In Memoriam" would be very inter- 
esting and profitable, provided this is done always with 
reference to the exact teaching of the Church. For 
exalted purity, for terseness and beauty of expression, 
for musical cadences, "The Dream of Gerontius" stands 
first among the few great poems that depict the life 
after death. "In Memoriam" is made up of human 
yearnings, of faith, of doubt. It never passes beyond 
"the bar" of death. Milton's "Paradise" is one of 
angels rather than men, and Rossetti's poem is only a 
reflection of earth. In Dante's "Purgatorio" the splen- 
dor seems to be so great that the appeal to the indi- 
vidual heart is lost, but the oftener we read "The 
Dream of Gerontius," the more its power and beauty 
and peace grow upon us. 

The story of General Charles George Gordon, 

* The Holy Father "creates" Cardinals, he does not appoint 
them. 



8 INTRODUCTION 

"" Chinese Gordon," one of the heroes of the nineteenth 
century, has passed into history, and every enthusiastic 
boy or girl ought to know it by heart. Gordon was the 
type of the vaHant soldier who carried the love and fear 
of God everywhere. He, besieged by pagan hordes, 
died, in 1884, the death of a martyr to duty. Tliis man 
was only one of those who found consolation in "The 
Dream of Gerontius" at the very hour of death. Gen- 
eral Gordon's copy of the poem — a small duodecimo — 
was presented to the late Mr. Frank Power, corre- 
spondent of the London Times. The latter sent it home 
to his sister in Dublin. Deep pencil-marks had been 
drawn under Hnes all bearing on death and pi;ayer. 
For instance: "Pray for me, O my friends"; "'Tis 
death, O loving friends, your prayers, — 'tis he '' ; " So 
pray for me, my friends, who have not strength to 
pray"; "Use well the interval"; "Prepare to meet thy 
God"; "Now that the hour is come, my fear is fled." 
Later power met the fate of a hero. The last words that 
Gordon underlined before he gave him the book were: 

" Farewell, but not forever, brother dear; 
Be brave and patient in thy bed of sorrow." 

The metre in "The Dream of Gerontius" changes 
with the thought, and it is always appropriate to it. 
The solemn movement of the opening lines gives the 
typical music, which is varied l)n:ically. As an ex- 
ample of exquisite musical variety on a firm basis of 
unity the poem is admirable. The level of "Lead, 



INTRODUCTION 9 

Kindly Light" is reached many times in the expression 
of the highest faith and love, and in musical quality 
the famous hymn is even surpassed by 

"Take me away, and in the lowest deep 
There let me be." 

Why Cardinal Newman should have presented the 
experience of a soul after death as a "dream" we can 
imagine from his habitual caution in dealing with all 
subjects of importance. He has the boldness of neither 
Dante nor Milton, and he will not present the poetical 
experience of a man, at such a vitally sacred moment, as 
an actual fact; he is too reverential for that, and he calls 
it a "Dream." In a letter written in answer to 
an inquiry as to the meaning of the lines in "The Pillar 
of the Cloud," 

"And with the morn those angel faces smile 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile," — 

he says, quoting Keble, that poets are "not bound to be 
critics or to give a sense to what they had written," ^ 
and he adds that "there must be a statute of limita- 
tions, or it would be quite a tyranny, if in an art 
which is the expression not of truth but of imagina- 
tion and sentiment, one were obliged to stand an ex- 
amination on the transient state of mind which came 

* Catholic Life and Letters by Cardinal Newman; with Notes 
on the Oxford Movement and its Men: — John Oldcastle (Mr. 
Wilfred Meynell) . To which work the editor is under obligation 
for important parts of the appended chronology. 



lo INTRODUCTION 

upon one when homesick, or seasick, or in any other way 
sensitive or excited." 

It is well to take a great poem like this without too 
much inquiry or analysis. If the author's intention is 
not evident in his poem, either he has failed to be clear, or 
he is consciously obscure, or we are incapable of appre- 
ciating his work. The first and second defects do not 
appear in "The Dream of Gerontius." The third, 
let us trust, does not exist in us. The notes, few in 
number, are intended to explain only what is not obvious. 

In his " Recollections " Aubrey De Vere says: " ' The 
Dream of Gerontius,' as Newman informed me, owed its 
preservation to an accident. He had written it on a sud- 
den impulse, put it aside and forgotten it. The editor 
of a magazine " — ^it appeared in The Month, of London, 
1865, in two parts — "wrote to him asking for a con- 
tribution. He looked into all his pigeon-holes and 
found nothing theological; but, in answering his cor- 
respondent, he added that he had come upon some verses 
which, if, as editor, he cared to have, were at his com- 
mand. The wise editor did care, and they were pub- 
lished at once." 

R. H. Hutton, writing of Cardinal Newman, speaks 
in this way of "The Dream of Gerontiu?": "Before 
the Vatican disputes and shortly after the controversy 
with Canon Kingsley, Newman had written a poem of 
which he himself thought so Httle that it was, as I have 
heard, consigned or doomed to the waste-basket. . . . 
Some friend who had an eye for true poetry rescued it, 



INTRODUCTION 1 1 

and was the means, therefore, of preserving to the world 
one of the most unique and original poems of the pres- 
ent century, as well as that one of all of them which is, in 
every sense, the least in sympathy with the temper of the 
present century. . . . None of his writings engraves more 
vividly on his readers the significance of the intensely 
practical convictions which shaped his career. And 
especially it impresses on us one of the great secrets of 
his influence. For Newman has been a sign to this 
generation that unless there is a great deal of the loneli- 
ness of death in life, there can hardly be much of the 
higher equanimity of life in death. To my mind ' The 
Dream of Gerontius' is the poem of a man to whom 
the vision of the Christian revelation has at all times been 
more real, more potent to influence action, and more 
powerful to preoccupy the imagination than all worldly 
interests put together." (R. H. Hutton, "Cardinal 
Newman.") 

The song of the soul in "The Dream of Gerontius" 
has sometimes been compared with "The Pillar of the 
Cloud " — a sacred lyric which is a household cantical 
wherever the English language is spoken. It is often 
misquoted, a fourth stanza having been added to it. 
This is the authorized version: 

"Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom 

Lead Thou me on! 
The night is dark, and I am far from home — 

Lead Thou me on! 
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene — one step enough for me. 



12 INTRODUCTION 

" I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou 

Shouldst lead me on. 
I loved to choose my path, but now 

Lead Thou me on. 
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, 
Pride ruled my will; remember not past years. 

*' So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still 

Will lead me on, 
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till 

The night is gone; 
And wuth the mom those angel faces smile 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile." 

In the "Apologia Pro Vita Sua" Dr. Newman wrote: 
"We" — Mr. Hurrell Froude, brother of the historian 
James Anthony Froude, being the other person — "set 
out in December 1832. It was during this expedition 
that my verses which are in the ' ApostoUca ' were written 
— a few, indeed, before it, but not more than one or two 
of them after it. At WTiitechurch, while waiting for the 
down mail to Falmouth, I wrote the verses about ^My 
Guardian Angel' which begin with these words: 

"'Are these the tracks of some unearthly friend? ' " 

It must be remembered that John Henry Newman 
had not yet entered the Catholic Church. It is strange 
that he should at this time have held the belief in a 
ministering spirit which is so marked in "The Dream 
of Gerontius." 



INTRODUCTION 13 

In the sextette of this sonnet he says: 

"Were I Christ's own, then fitly might I call 
That vision real; for to the thoughtful mind 
That walks with Him He half reveals His face; 
But when on earth-stained souls such tokens fall, 
These dare not claim as theirs what there they find, 
Yet, not all hopeless, eye His boundless grace." 

This vision, he says, '* which haunted me, — the vision 
is more or less brought out in the whole series of com- 
positions." "Gerontius" itself is more a "vision" than 
a "dream." 

"The Pillar in the Cloud" was written in an orange- 
boat. "We were becalmed a whole week in the Straits 
of Bonifaccio. Then it was," he says in the "Apolo- 
gia " — the finest model of modern EngUsh prose ex- 
tant — "that I wrote 'Lead, Kindly Light,' which has 
since become well known. I was writing verses the 
whole time of my passage." 

The "vision" of which he speaks he saw everywhere, 
and all his poems seem, in one way or other, to contain 
hints of the great poem to come; for there can be no 
doubt that " The Dream of Gerontius " is the culmination 
of his poetical moods. One cannot open any of his prose 
works without finding allusions to these eternal truths 
made so . clear through the processes of the soul of a 
normal old man, — our young readers will please look 
up the derivation of Gerontius,^ which is from the 
Greek, — but it is in his poems that we discover easily 

1 yepOOV OVTOi. 



14 INTRODUCTION 

the germs of his poetical masterpiece. Even in the 
poems he loved we note the constant dwelHng on the 
main theme of "The Dream" — Eternity. In 1889 
Cardinal Newman was very ill. During his conva- 
lescence he asked that Faber's "Eternal Years" should 
be sung to him with musical accompaniment. He said 
that he would Like to hear it when he came to die. It 
is a poem of sixteen stanzas, to be found in Faber's 
"Hymns." It begins: 

"How shalt thou bear the cross that now 
So dread a weight appears ? 
Keep quietly to God, and think 
Upon the eternal years. 

Austerity is little help, 

Although it sometimes cheers; 
Thine oil of gladness is the thought 

Of the eternal years." 

" Novissima hora est!" Gerontius exclaims, "and I 
fain would sleep." He is thinking of the eternal hours 
and years in this last hour on earth. 

At sea, in June, 1833, Newman had written some 

verses called " Hora Novissima ": 

"Whene'er goes forth Thy dread command, 
And my last hour is nigh, 
Lord, grant me in a Christian land, 
As I was born, to die. 

"I pray not, Lord, that friends may be, 
Or kindred, standing by, — 
Choice blessing! which I leave to Thee 
To grant me or deny. 



INTRODUCTION 1 5 

"But let my falling limbs beneath 
My Mother's smile recline, 
And prayers sustain my laboring breath 
From out her sacred shrine. 

"And let the cross beside my bed 
In its dread presence rest; 
And let the absolving words be said 
To ease a laden breast. 

"Thou, Lord, where'er we lie, canst aid; 
But He who taught His own 
To live as one, will not upbraid 
The dread to die alone." 

The death of Gerontius was Newman's ideal Chris- 
tian death, and Gerontius does not die alone; he is 
upborne, refreshed by the prayers of his friends. Of 
Newman's sacred songs, ^'The Pillar of the Cloud" 
is, as we know, put first by some critics. And yet for 
musical diction, for sweetness and all the beauty of 
artistic technique, the song of the soul in "The Dream" 
equals if not surpasses it. 

"Take me away, and in the lowest deep, 
There let me be, 
And there in hope the lone night-watches keep, 
Told out for me." 

In "Verses on Various Occasions " there is the picture 
of the resigned souls expecting the Blessed Vision. 
"Waiting for the Morning" was written at Oxford, 
1835. It begins: 



1 6 INTRODUCTION 

"They are at rest; 
We may not stir the heaven of their repose 
With loud-voiced grief, or passionate request. 

Or selfish plaints for those 
Who in the mountain grots of Eden lie, 
And hear the fourfold river as it passes by." 

By "Eden" Newman symbolized the paradise — the 
resting-place of souls — of the fourfold rivers. Here 
they patiently abide, 

"And soothing sounds 
Blend with the neighboring waters as they glide; 
Posted along the haunted garden's bounds 
Angelic forms abide, 
Echoing as words of watch, o'er lawn and grove, 
The verses of that hymn which seraphs chant above." 

The fulness of higher meditation and knowledge is in 
the triumphant song of the Soul, but " Waiting for the 
Morning" contains its suggestion, just as "The Lady of 
Shalott" by Lord Tennyson contains the germ of the 
exquisite "Elaine." 

The dedication of "The Dream of Gerontius" reads, 
in English : " To the Most Beloved Brother, John Joseph 
Gordon, Priest of the Order of St. PhiHp de Neri, whose 
soul is in the Place of Refreshment/ All Soul's Day, 
1865." 

The Rev. John Joseph Gordon, of the Oratory, was 
very dear to Newman, and his death was a great blow 

* The word " refrigerium " was used for " refreshment," 
" rest " in the epitaphs of the early Latin Christians. 



INTRODUCTION 1 7 

to him. But of all the Oratorians, the Cardinal espe- 
cially loved Father Ambrose St. John, whose name 
he accentuates on the last page of the "Apologia.'* 
Father St, John, who was of the Gordon family, died in 
1875, and Newman suffered what he held to be his 
saddest bereavement. Ambrose St. John had been 
with him at Littlemore. Writing to Mr. Bering of 
the death of Father Ambrose St. John, he said: "I never 
had so great a loss. He had been my life under God for 
twenty-two years." The dread of dying alone and the 
deep affection for friends — an affection that reaches 
the throne of God by prayer — tinge the whole structure 
of " The Dream." They are part of Newman himself. 

Cardinal Newman died at Edgbaston Oratory, August 
II, 1890; he was buried, at his own request, in the grave 
with Father Ambrose St. John. " 'The Dream of Geron- 
tius' was composed in great grief after the death of a 
dear friend." 

A careful study of "The Dream of Gerontius" will 
show how musical it is, and how delicately the music of 
the verse changes with the themes. The form of poetry, 
as we know, approaches music. If a poem is not musi- 
cal in expression, its metres fail ot producing the effect 
they are intended to produce. So musical is "The 
Dream of Gerontius" and so capable of being treated 
by the musicians, that various composers suggested 
the making of an oratorio of it. Dr. Elgar has done 
it. "An Ursuline," in The Catholic World, for June, 
1903, says: "Dr. Elgar, when a child, sat Sunday after 



1 8 INTRODUCTION 

Sunday in the organ-loft of St. George's Roman Catholic 
Church, Worcester, England, where his father had been 
organist for the long period of thirty-seven years. Subtly 
the spirit of the grand old church music was instilled 
into the boy." Of "The Dream" Dr. Elgar said: 
" The poem has been soaking in my mind for at least 
eight years. All that time I had been gradually as- 
similating the thoughts of the author into my musical 
promptings." In 1889 a copy of the poem, with the 
markings made by General Gordon, was presented to 
Dr. Elgar as a wedding gift. The markings of the 
heroic and devout Gordon especially interested him. 
The reading of this little book helped to make Dr. 
Elgar's fame, which is based solely on his masterpiece, 
the oratorio performed in London on June 6, 1903, 
in Westminster Cathedral. Richard Strauss is looked 
on by musicians as the master of what is called " tone- 
color " — a perfect harmony between the tone of the 
instrument and the music arranged for it. But the 
German and EngHsh critics declare that in " The Dream 
of Gerontius " Dr. Elgar has surpassed Richard Strauss. 
"The Demons' Chorus," says The Pall Mall Gazette^ 
" may be regarded as one of the last words of musical 
audacity." For the study of the music we suggest 
Dr. Jaeger's Analysis, printed by Novello in London 
and New York. Mr. Theodore Thomas, speaking of 
Dr. Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius," said that it is the 
most important oratorio of recent times, not excepting 
Brahms' Requiem. "'Gerontius,'" he added, "is a 



INTRODUCTION 19 

lofty work, and, from a technical point of view, more 
masterly than Brahms ever dreamed of. It is by far 
the most important and satisfying modern work 
written for voices and orchestra." 

It is understood that Cardinal Newman himself sug- 
gested that his poem should be set to music. The 
dehcacy of his ear as to sounds is shown by the changes 
of the verse-music, — which is made up of accent, pause, 
and rhythm, — to fit the varying feeling of the work. 
If the student will scan the lines and reduce them to 
musical expression, — leaving out, of course, the quality 
of pitch, he can easily corroborate this. 

Jesu, Maria, I am near to death, 
And Thou art calling me. 

This is in two-beat rhythm: 

r I r r I r r \f r \f r \f 
r IP r Ir r IF * I 

The first syllable of "Jesu'* is the anacrusis; the 
measure of the metre begins with the first accent. 
Whether this system of verse-notation or that of the 
usual scansion be followed, the meaning of the change 
ing forms will be made plain. The system of verse- 
notation will be found more satisfactory in the met- 
rical study of the poem. The second form of primary 
rhythm — that based on three beats in the measure — 



20 INTRODUCTION 

is effectively used. We find it in the Song of the 
Demons : 

Low-born clods 
Of brute earth, 
They aspire, — 



r r ir r r ir r r ir 



JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 

Born in the city of London, February 21, 1801, son 
of Mr. John Newman (of the banking firm of Rams- 
bottom, Newman & Co.) and of Jemima Fourdrinier, 
his wife. 

Went at an early age to Dr. Nicholas's school at Eal- 
ing, to the head of which he rapidly rose. Thence 
to Trinity College, Oxford, graduating in 1820. 

In 1823 was elected to a Fellowship at Oriel. 

In 1824 took Anglican orders and became curate 
of St. Clement s, Oxford. 

In 1828 was appointed vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, 
Oxford, with the outlying chaplaincy of Littlemore. 

In 1832 finished History of the Avians and went 
abroad. Made acquaintance with Dr. Wiseman in 
Rome; seized with fever in Sicily, but said, "I shall 
not die — I have a work to do in England"; returning 
homewards in an orange-boat bound for Marseilles, 
and within sight of Garibaldi's home at Caprera, wrote 
"Lead, Kindly Light." 

On July 13, 1833, the Sunday after his return home, 
the Oxford movement was begun by Keble's sermon 
on National Apostasy. The issue of Tracts for the 
Times immediately followed; and in 1843 Mr. New- 

21 



22 JOHN HENRY NEIVMAN 

man published a volume of Parochial Sermons, to be 
followed by University Sermons and Sermons on Holy 
Days. 

In 1 84 1 the Vice-Chancellor and heads of houses at 
Oxford censured Mr. Newman's Tract XC. 

In 1843 he resigned St. Mary's. 

On October 9, 1845, was received into the Catholic 
Church at Littlemore by Father Dominic. 

On November i, 1845, was confirmed at Oscott by 
Cardinal Wiseman. 

On October 28, 1846, arrived in Rome, and, after a 
short period of study, was ordained priest. 

On Christmas Eve, 1847, he returned to England 
from Rome, to found the community of St. Philip 
de Neri. 

In January, 1849, part of the Oratorian Community 
settled in Birmingham. 

In 1849 took up temporary residence at Bilston, to 
nurse the poor during a visitation of cholera. 

In April, 1849, founded the London Oratory, with 
Father Faber as rector. 

On June 21, 1852, the case of Achilli against Dr. 
Newman came on for trial before Lord Campbell, and, 
after several days' duration, resulted in a verdict of 
"guilty," Dr. Newman being unjustly sentenced to a 
fine and mulcted in enormous costs. The Rev. John 
Joseph Gordon, to whom "The Dream of Gerontius" 
is dedicated, was of great assistance to Newman at 
this time. 



JOHN HENRY NEIVMAN 23 

In 1854 went to Dublin as rector of the newly founded 
Irish CathoUc University, but resigned that post in 
1858, and subsequently established a boys' school at 
Birmingham. 

In 1864 Charles Kingsley made charges of untruth- 
fulness against the Catholic clergy, which led to the 
writing of the Apologia Pro Vita Sua. 

In December, 1877, was elected an Honorary Fellow 
of Trinity College, Oxford. 

In 1865 he printed "The Dream of Gerontius." 

In 1879 created Cardinal Deacon of the Holy Roman 
Church by Leo XIII. 

On Monday, May 11, 1890, died at the Oratory, 
Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 



Gerontius 

JESU, MARIA— I am near to death/ 
And Thou art calling me ; I know it now — 
Not by the token of this faltering breath, 

This chill at heart; this dampness on my brow, 

As suggested in the Introduction, the musical character of 
the verse of "The Dream of Gerontius" is brought out more 
and more by careful study of the changes of the meaning of 
the poem and their expression. "The Dream" is a series of 
lyrics, — each lyric voicing its own feeling and sensitively tuned 
to that feeling. According to the scansion most in use in Eng- 
lish, the first supplicating lyric may be classed as in pentameter 
iambic. Gerontius is yet in the body, and the rime, used 
solemnly, marks a difference — which has a delicate symbolism — 
between his utterances in the body and his utterances when 
his soul has left the body. What we call blank verse is used 
by the Spirit — rime disappears, but the rhythm remains the 
same. Using verse -notation, we find five accented notes 
in each line, if we consider the lines at all. There are two 
quarter-notes in each bar, which may be written as 



r Ir r 



*See Notes, p. 67. 

25 



26 THE DREy4M OF GERONTIUS 

(Jesu, have mercy! Mary, pray for me!) — 

'Tis this new feehng, never felt before, 
(Be with me, Lord, in my extremity!) 

That I am going, that I am no more. 
'Tis this strange innermost abandonment, 

(Lover of souls! great God! I look to Thee,) lo 

This emptying out of each constituent 

And natural force, by which I come to be. 
Pray for me, O my friends; a visitant 

Is knocking his dire summons at my door, 
The like of whom, to scare me and to daunt, 

Has never, never come to me before; 
'Tis death, — O loving friends, your prayers! — 'tis 

he! . . . 
As though my very being had given way. 

As though I was no more a substance now. 
And could fall back on nought to be my stay, 20 

(Help, loving Lord! Thou my sole Refuge, Thou,) 
And turn no whither, but must needs decay 

And drop from out the universal frame 
Into that shapeless, scopeless, blank abyss, 

That utter nothingness, of which I came: 
This is it that has come to pass in me; 
O horror! this it is, my dearest, this; 
So pray for me, my friends, who have not strength to pray. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 27 

Assistants 

Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison. 

Holy Mary, pray for him. 30 

All holy Angels, pray for him. 

Choirs of the righteous, pray for him. 

Holy Abraham, pray for him. 

St. John Baptist, St. Joseph, pray for him. 

St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. John, 

All Apostles, all Evangelists, pray for him. 

All holy Disciples of the Lord, pray for him. 

All holy Innocents, pray for him. 

All holy Martyrs, all holy Confessors, 

All holy Hermits, all holy Virgins, 40 

All ye Saints of God, pray for him. 

Gerontius 

Rouse thee, my fainting soul, and play the man; 

And through such waning span 
Of life and thought as still has to be trod, 

Prepare to meet thy God. 
And while the storm of that bewilderment 

Is for a season spent, 
And, ere afresh the ruin on thee fall, 

Use well the interval. 

"Kyrie Eleison," etc. The poet has retained the sound-form 
used in the Prayer-books, and he shows his musical taste by 
not changing it. 

"Rouse thee," etc. Gerontius concentrates all his vitality. 
The effect is of nervous energy. The time is quickened and 
alternately slowed. 



2 8 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS' 

Assistants 

Be merciful, be gracious; spare him, Lord. 50 

Be merciful, be gracious; Lord, deliver him. 
From the sins that are past; 
From thy frown and Thine ire; 
From the perils of dying; 
From any complying 
With sin, or denying 
His God, or relying 
On self, at the last; 

From the nethermost fire 
From all that is evil; 60 

From power of the devil; 
Thy servant deUver, 
For once and for ever. 

By Thy birth, and by Thy Cross, 
Rescue him from endless loss; 
By Thy death and burial, 
Save him from a final fall; 
By Thy rising from the tomb, 

By Thy mounting up above, 

By the Spirit's gracious love, 70 

Save him in the day of doom. 

"Be merciful," etc. The Assistants begin with the solemn 
chant of the Church, and change to the suppHcation of anxious 
human hearts: 

^ > 1 k^ u* u* 

or 






THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 29 

Gerontius 

Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus, 

De profundus oro te, 
Miserere, Judex meus, 

Parce mihi, Domine.^ 
Firmly I believe and truly 

God is Three, and God is One; 
And I next acknowledge duly 

Manhood taken by the Son. 
And I trust and hope most fully 80 

In that Manhood crucified; 
And each thought and deed unruly 

Do to death, as He has died. 

"Sanctus jortis, Sanctus Deus," etc. This is the ecstasy of 
faith, hope, and love. It is three Acts in one, rapidly and 
forcibly expressed. The energy and strength of self-forget- 
fulness fail when he, still in the body, sighs: 

"I can no more; for now it comes again," — 

r 1 1" r I r r I r r I r r I r ^^ I 

Note the musical effect of 

"And, crueller still, 
A fierce and restless fright begins to fill 
The mansion of my soul. And, worse and worse, 
Some bodily form of ill." 
The pauses after "ill" express horror and weakness, — 

• r I r r I r ^ h ^ h 

'See Notes, p- 67. 



3© THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

Simply to His grace and wholly 

Light and life and strength belong, 
And I love, supremely, solely, 

Him the holy. Him the strong. 
Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus, 

De profundis oro te, 
Miserere, Judex mens, 90 

Parce mihi, Domine. 
And I hold in veneration, 

For the love of Him alone, 
Holy Church, as His creation, 

And her teachings, as His own. 
And I take with joy whatever 

Now besets me, pain or fear, 
And with a strong will I sever 

All the ties which bind me here. 
Adoration aye be given 100 

With and through the angelic host, 
To the God of earth and heaven, 

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus, 

De profundis oro te, 
Miserere, Judex mens. 

Mortis in discrimine.^ 

I can no more; for now it comes again, 

That sense of ruin, which is worse than pain. 

That masterful negation and collapse no 

^ See Notes, p. 68. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS Zl 

Of all that makes me man; as though I bent 

Over the dizzy brink 

Of some sheer infinite descent; 

Or worse, as though 

Down, down for ever I was falling through 

The solid framework of created things. 

And needs must sink and sink 

Into the vast abyss. And, crueller still, 

A fierce and restless fright begins to fill 

The mansion of my soul. And, worse and worse, 120 

Some bodily form of ill 

Floats on the wind, with many a loathsome curse 

Tainting the hallowed air, and laughs, and flaps 

Its hideous wings. 

And makes me wild with horror and dismay. 

O Jesu, help! pray for me Mary, pray! 

Some angel, Jesu! such as came to Thee 

In Thine own agony 

Mary, pray for me. Joseph, pray for me. 

Mary, pray for me. 130 

Assistants 

Rescue him, O Lord, in this his evil hour, 
As of old so many by Thy gracious power: — (Amen.) 
Enoch and Elias from the common doom; (Amen.) 
Noe from the waters in a saving home; (Amen.) 

" Rescue him, O Lord, " etc. The solemn chant again. Note the 
difference in metre between this and the "Novissima hora est; 
and I fain would sleep. The pain has wearied me." Note 
the ardor of the Priest's " Proficiscere, anima Christiana," etc. 



32 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

Abraham from th' abounding guilt of Heathenesse; 

(Amen.) 
Job from all his multiform and fell distress; (Amen.) 
Isaac, when his father's knife was raised to slay; 

(Amen.) 
Lot from burning Sodom on its judgment-day; (Amen.) 
Moses from the land of bondage and despair; (Amen.) 
Daniel from the hungry lions in their lair; (Amen.) 140 
And the Children Three amid the furnace-flame; 

(Amen.) 
Chaste Susanna from the slander and the shame; 

(Amen.) 
David from Golia and the wrath of Saul; (Amen.) 
And the two Apostles from their prison-thrall; (x\men.) 
Thecla from her torments; (Amen.) 

— so, to show Thy power, 
Rescue this Thy servant in his evil hour. 

Gerontius 

Novissima hora est;^ and I fain would sleep, 
The pain has wearied me. . . . Into Thy hands, 
O Lord, into Thy hands .... 

The Priest 

Proficiscere, anima Christiana, de hoc mundo!^ 150 

Go forth upon thy journey, Christian soul! 
Go from this world! Go, in the name of God, 
The omnipotent Father, who created thee! 

* See Notes, p. 68. ^ See Notes, p. 68. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 33 

Go, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, 

Son of the living God, who bled for thee! 

Go, in the Name of the Holy Spirit, who 

Hath been poured out on thee! Go, in the name 

Of Angels and Archangels ; in the name 

Of Thrones and Dominations; in the name 

Of Princedoms and of Powers; and in the name i6o 

Of Cherubim and Seraphim, go forth! 

Go, in the name of Patriarchs and Prophets; 

And of Apostles and Evangelists, 

Of Martyrs and Confessors; in the name 

Of holy Monks and Hermits ; in the name 

Of holy Virgins; and all Saints of God, 

Both men and women, go! Go on thy course; 

And may thy place to-day be found in peace. 

And may thy dwelling be the Holy Mount 

Of Sion: — in the Name of Christ, our Lord, 170 

Soul of Gerontius 

I went to sleep; and now I am refreshed. 
A strange refreshment: for I feel in me 
An inexpressive lightness, and a sense 
Of freedom, as I were at length myself, 

"7 went to sleeps'' etc. The soul of Gerontius has left the 
body: 



r \r r \r " \r r r r r 



34 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS ' 

And ne'er had been before. How still it is! 

I hear no more the busy beat of time, 

No, nor my fluttering breath, nor struggling pulse; 

Nor does one moment differ from the next. 

I had a dream; yes: — some one softly said 

"He's gone"; and then a sigh went round the room. i8o 

And then I surely heard a priestly voice 

Cry "Subvenite"; and they knelt in prayer. 

I seem to hear him still; but thin and low, 

And fainter and more faint the accents come, 

As at an ever-widening interval. 

Ah! whence is this? What is this severance? 

This silence pours a soUtariness 

Into the very essence of my soul; 

And the deep rest, so soothing and so sweet, 

Hath something too of sternness and of pain, . 190 

For it drives back my thoughts upon their spring 

By a strange introversion, and perforce 

I now begin to feed upon myself. 

Because I have nought else to feed upon. 

Am I alive or dead ? I am not dead, 

But in the body still; for I possess 

A sort of confidence which chngs to me. 

That each particular organ holds its place 

As heretofore, combining with the rest 

Into one symmetry, that wraps me round, 200 

And makes me man; and surely I could move. 

Did I but will it, every part of me. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 35 

And yet I cannot to my sense bring home, 

By very trial, that I have the power. 

'Tis strange; I cannot stir a hand or foot, 

I cannot make my fingers or my lips 

By mutual pressure witness each to each, 

Nor by the eyelid's instantaneous stroke 

Assure myself I have a body still. 

Nor do I know my very attitude, 210 

Nor if I stand, or He, or sit, or kneel. 

So much I know, not knowing how I know, 

That the vast universe, where I have dwelt. 

Is quitting me, or I am quitting it. 

Or I or it is rushing on the wings 

Of light or Hghtning on an onward course. 

And we e'en now are million miles apart. 

Yet ... is this peremptory severance 

Wrought out in lengthening measurements of space, 

Which grow and multiply by speed and me ? 220 

Or am I traversing infinity 

By endless subdivision, hurrying back 

From finite towards infinitesimal. 

Thus dying out of the expansed world ? 

Another marvel : ^ someone has me fast 
Within his ample palm; 'tis not a grasp 
Such as they use on earth, but all around 
Over the surface of my subtle being, 

' See Notes, p. 68. 



36 THE DREAM GF GERONTIUS 

As though I were a sphere, and capable 

To be accosted thus, a uniform 230 

And gentle pressure tells me I am not 

Self-moving, but borne forward on my way. 

And hark! I hear a singing; yet in sooth 

I cannot of that music rightly say 

Whether I hear or touch or taste the tones. 

Oh what a heart-subduing melody! 

Angel 

My work is done, 
My task is o'er. 

And so I come, 

Taking it home, 240 

For the crown is won, 
Alleluia. 
For evermore. 
My Father gave 
In charge to me 
This child of earth 
E'en from its birth, 
To serve and save, 
Alleluia, 
And saved is he. 250 

"My work is done, 
My task is o'er," 
is expressed \vith a joyous movement, — 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 37 

This child of clay 
To me was given, 

To rear and train 
By sorrow and pain 
In the narrow way, 
Alleluia, 
From earth to heaven. 



Soul 

It is a member of that family 

Of wondrous beings, who, ere the worlds were made, 

Millions of ages back, have stood around 260 

The throne of God: — he never has known sin; 

But through those cycles all but infinite, 

Has had a strong and pure celestial life, 

And born to gaze on th' unveiled face of God 

And drank from the eternal Fount of truth, 

And served Him with a keen ecstatic love. 

Hark! he begins again. 

Angel 

O Lord, how wonderful in depth and height, 

But most in man, how wonderful Thou artl 
With what a love, what soft persuasive might 270 

Victorious o'er the stubborn fleshly heart, 
Thy tale complete of saints Thou dost provide 
To fill the thrones which angels lost through pridel 



38 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

He lay a grovelling babe upon the ground, 

Polluted in the blood of his first sire, 

With his whole essence shattered and unsound, 

And, coiled around his heart, a demon dire, 

Which was not of his nature, but had skill 

To bind and form his opening mind to ill. 

Then was I sent from heaven to set right 280 

The balance in his soul of truth and sin. 
And I have waged a long relentless fight, 

Resolved that death-environed spirit to win. 
Which from its fallen state, when all was lost, 
Had been repurchased at so dread a cost. 

Oh what a shifting parti-coloured scene 

Of hope and fear, of triumph and dismay, 
Of recklessness and penitence, has been 

The history of that dreary, lifelong fray! 
And oh the grace to nerve him and to lead, 290 

How patient, prompt, and lavish at his need! 

O man, strange composite of heaven and earth ! ^ 
Majesty dwarfed to baseness! fragrant flower 
Running to poisonous seed ! and seeming worth 

Cloking corruption! weakness mastering power! 
Who never art so near to crime and shame. 
As when thou hast achieved some deed of name; — 

^Compare the thought in "Hamlet" — Act II, Scene II. — • 
"What a piece of work is man!" 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 39 

How should ethereal natures comprehend 
A thing made up of spirit and of clay, 
Were we not tasked to nurse it and to tend, 300 

Linked one to one throughout its mortal day ? 
More than the Seraph in his height of place, 
The Angel-guardian knows and loves the ransomed 
race. 

Soul 

Now know I surely that I am at length 

Out of the body: had I part with earth, 

I never could have drunk those accents in. 

And not have worshipped as a god the voice 

That was so musical; but now I am 

So whole of heart, so calm, so self-possessed, 

With such a full content, and with a sense 310 

So apprehensive and discriminant, 

As no temptation can intoxicate. 

Nor have I even terror at the thought 

That I am clasped by such a saintliness. 

Angel 

All praise to Him, at whose sublime decree 

The last are first, the first become the last; 
By whom the suppliant prisoner is set free. 

By whom proud first-borns from their thrones are 
cast, 
Who raises Mary to be Queen of heaven, 
While Lucifer is left, condemned and unforgiven. 320 



40 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

§3 
Soul 

I will address him. Mighty one, my Lord, 
My Guardian Spirit, all hail! 

Angel 

All hail, mv child! 
My child and brother, hail ! what wouldest thou ? 

Soul 

I would have nothing but to speak with thee 
For speaking's sake. I wish to hold with thee 
Conscious communion; though I fain would know 
A maze of things, were it but meet to ask, 
And not a curiousness. 

Angel 

You cannot now 330 

Cbf^rish a wish which ought not to be wished. 

Soul 

Then I will speak. I ever had believed 
That on the moment when the strugghng soul 
Quitted its mortal case, forthwith it fell 
Under the awful Presence of its God, 
There to be judged and sent to its own place. 
What lets me now from going to my Lord ? 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 41 

Angel 

Thou art not let ; but with extremest speed 

Art hurrying to the Just and Holy Judge: 

For scarcely art thou disembodied yet. 340 

Divide a moment, as men measure time, 

Into its million-million-millionth part, 

Yet even less than that the interval 

Since thou didst leave the body; and the priest 

Cried "Subvenite," '^ and they fell to prayer; 

Nay, scarcely yet have they begun to pray. 

For spirits and men by different standards mete 

The less and greater in the flow of time. 

By sun and moon, primeval ordinances — 

By stars which rise and set harmoniously — 350 

By the recurring seasons, and the swing, 

This way and that, of the suspended rod 

Precise and punctual, men divide the hours, 

Equal, continuous, for their common use. 

Not so with us in the immaterial world ; 

But intervals in their succession 

Are measured by the living thought alone, 

And grow or wane with its intensity. 

And time is not a common property; 

But what is long is short, and swift is slow, 360 

And near is distant, as received and grasped 

By this mind and by that, and every one 

Is standard of his own chronology. 

' See Notes, p. 68. 



42 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

And memory lacks its natural resting-points 
Of years, and centuries, and periods. 
It is thy very energy of thought 
Which keeps thee from thy God. 

Soul 

Dear Angel, say, 
Why have I now no fear at meeting Him ? 
Along my earthly life, the thought of death 370 

And judgment was to me most terrible. 
I had it aye before me, and I saw 
The Judge severe e'en in the crucifix. 
Now that the hour is come, my fear is fled ; 
And at this balance of my destiny. 
Now close upon me, I can forward look 
With a serenest joy. 

Angel 

It is because 
Then thou didst fear, that now thou dost not fear. 
Thou hast forestalled the agony, and so - 380 

For thee the bitterness of death is past. 
Also, because already in thy soul 
The judgment is begun. That day of doom, 
One and the same for the collected world — 
That solemn consummation for all flesh. 
Is, in the case of each, anticipate 
Upon his death ; and, as the last great day 
In the particular judgment is rehearsed, 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 43 

So now too, ere thou comest to the Throne, 

A presage falls upon thee, as a ray 390 

Straight from the Judge, expressive of thy lot. 

That calm and joy uprising in thy soul 

Is first-fruit to thee of thy recompense, 

And heaven begun. 



§4 



Soul 

But hark! upon my sense 
Comes a fierce hubbub, which would make me fear. 
Could I be frighted. 

Angel 

We are now arrived 
Close on the judgment court ; that sullen howl 
Is from the demons who assemble there. 400 

It is the middle region, where of old 
Satan appeared among the sons of God, 
To cast his jibes and scoffs at holy Job. 
So now his legions throng the vestibule. 
Hungry and wild, to claim their property, 
And gather souls for hell. Hist to their cry. 

Soul 
How sour and how uncouth a dissonance! 



44 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

Demons 

Low-born clods 

Of brute earth, 

They aspire 410 

To become gods, 

By a new burth, 
And an extra grace, 

And a score of merits. 
As if aught 
Could stand in place 

Of the high thought, 
And the glance of fire 
Of the great spirits, 
The powers blest, 420 

The lords by right. 

The primal owners. 

Of the proud dwelling 
And realm of light, — 
Disposessed, 
Aside thrust, 

Chucked down, 
By the sheer might 

"Low-horn clods, ^' etc. The most marked change comes here. 
The solemnity and sweetness of the soul and the angel's music — 
their leit-motif — is easily discernible. Now come dissonances and 
discords, — the rapidity of jangled cymbals struck in scorn. The 
phrase "chucked down" has been censured as "inelegant." Its 
meaning and sound accord exactly with the spirit of the demoniac 
chorus. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 45 

Of a despot's will, 

Of a tyrant's frown. 430 

Who after expelling 
Their hosts, gave, 
Triumphant still, 
And still unjust, 

Each forfeit crown 
To psalm-droners, 
And canting groaners, 

To every slave, 
And pious cheat, 

And crawling knave, 440 

Who licked the dust 

Under his feet. 

Angel 

It is the restless panting of their being; 
Like beasts of prey, who, caged within their bars, 
In a deep hideous purring have their life, 
And an incessant pacing to and fro. 

Demons 

The mind bold 

And independent. 

The purpose free. 
So we are told, 450 

Must not think 

To have the ascendant. 
What's a saint ? 



46 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

One whose breath 

Doth the air tamt 
Before his death; 

A bundle of bones, 
Which fools adore, 

Hal ha! 
When life is o'er, 460 

Which rattle and stink, 

E'en in the flesh. 
We cry his pardon ! 

No flesh hath he; 

Ha! ha! 
For it hath died, 
'Tis crucified 
Day by day. 
Afresh, afresh. 

Ha! ha! 470 

That holy clay, 
Ha! ha! 
This gains guerdon. 

So priestUngs prate, 
Ha! ha! 
Before the Judge, 

And pleades and atones 
For spite and grudge, 

And bigot mood. 
And envy and hate, 480 

And greed of blood. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 47 

Soul 

How impotent they are ! and yet on earth 
They have repute for wondrous power and skill; 
And books describe, how that the very face 
Of the Evil One, if seen, would have a force 
Even to freeze the blood, and choke the life 
Of him who saw it. 

Angel 

In thy trial-state 
Thou hadst a traitor nestling close at home, 
Connatural, who with the powers of hell 490 

Was leagued, and of thy senses kept the keys, 
And to that deadliest foe unlocked thy heart. 
And therefore is it, in respect to man. 
Those fallen ones show so majestical. 
But, when some child of grace, angel or saint, 
Pure and upright in his integrity 
Of nature, m^eets the demons on their raid, 
They scud away as cowards from the fight. 
Nay, oft hath holy hermit in his cell, 
Not yet disburdened of mortality, 500 

Mocked at their threats and warlike overtures; 
Or, dying, when they swarmed, like flies, around, 
Defied them, and departed to his Judge. 

Demons 
Virtue and vice, 

A knave's pretence. 
'Tis all the same; 



4S THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

Ha! ha! 

Dread of hell-fire, 
Of the venomous flame, 

A coward's plea. 510 

Give him his price, 

Saint though he be, 
Ha! ha! 

From shrewd good sense 

He'll slave for hire; 
Ha! ha! 

And does but aspire 
To the heaven above 

With sordid aim, 
And not from love. 520 

Ha! ha! 

Soul 

I see not those false spirits; shall I see 

My dearest Master, when I reach His throne; 

Or hear, at least. His awful judgment-word 

With personal intonation, as I now 

Hear thee, not see thee, Angel ? Hitherto 

All has been darkness since I left the earth; 

Shall I remain thus sight bereft all through 

My penance time ? If so, how comes it then 

That I have hearing still, and taste, and touch, 530 

Yet not a gUmmer of that princely sense 

WTiich binds ideas in one, and makes them hve ? 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 49 

Angel 

Nor touch, nor taste, nor hearing hast thou now; 

Thou livest in a world of signs and types, 

The presentations of most holy truths. 

Living and strong, which now encompass thee. 

A disembodied soul, thou hast by right 

No converse with aught else beside thyself; 

But, lest so stern a solitude should load 

And break thy being, in mercy are vouchsafed 540 

Some lower measures of perception. 

Which seem to thee, as though through channels brought, 

Through ear, or nerves, or palate, which are gone. 

And thou art wrapped and swathed around in dreams. 

Dreams that are true, yet enigmatical; 

For the belongings of thy present state, 

Save through such symbols, come not home to thee. 

And thus thou tell'st of space, and time, and size, 

Of fragrant, soHd, bitter, musical. 

Of fire,, and of refreshment after fire; 550 

As (let me use simihtude of earth. 

To aid thee in the knowledge thou dost ask") — 

As ice which blisters may be said to burn. 

Nor hast thou now extension,^ with its parts 

Correlative, — long habit cozens thee, — 

Nor power to move thyself, nor limbs to move. 

Hast thou not heard of those, who, after loss 

Of hand or foot, still cried that they had pains 

^ See Notes, p. 68. 



50 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

In hand or foot, as though they had it still ? 

So is it now with thee, who hast not lost 560 

Thy hand or foot, but all which made up man; 

So will it be, until the joyous day 

Of resurrection, when thou wilt regain 

All thou hast lost, new-made and glorified. 

How, even now, the consummated Saints 

See God in heaven, I may not explicate. 

Meanwhile let it suffice thee to possess 

Such means of converse as are granted thee. 

Though, till that Beatific Vision thou art blind; 

For e'en thy purgatory, which comes like fire, 570 

Is fire without its light. 

Soul 

His will be done! 
I am not worthy e'er to see again 
The face of day; far less His countenance 
Who is the very sun. Nathless, in life, 
When I looked forward to my purgatory. 
It ever was my solace to believe. 
That, ere I plunged amid th' avenging flame, 
I had one sight of Him to strengthen me. 

Angel 

Nor rash nor vain is that presentiment ; 580 

Yes, — for one moment thou shalt see thy Lord. 
Thus will it be: what time thou art arraigned 
Before the dread tribunal, and thy lot 
Is cast for ever, should it be to sit 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 51 

On His right hand among His pure elect, 
Then sight, or that which to the soul is sight, 
As by a lightning-flash, will come to thee. 
And thou shalt see, amid the dark profound, 
Whom thy soul loveth, and would fain approach, — 
One moment; but thou knowest not, my child, 590 

What thou dost ask: that sight of the Most Fair 
Will gladden thee, but it will pierce thee too. 

Soul 

Thou speakest darkly. Angel ! and an awe 
Falls on me, and a fear lest I be rash. 

Angel 

There was a mortal, who is now above 
In the mid glory: he, when near to die, 
Was given communion with the Crucified, — 
Such, that the Master's very wounds were stamped 
Upon his flesh ; ^ and, from the agony 599 

Which thrilled through body and soul in that embrace 
Learn that the flame of the Everlasting Love 
Doth burn ere it transform. . . . 

§s 

. . . Hark to those sounds! 
They come of tender beings angelical. 
Least and most childlike of the sons of God. 

°See Notes, p. 68. 



52 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

First Choir of Angelicals 

Praise to the Holiest in the height, 

And in the depth be praise: 
In all His words most wonderful; 

Most sure in all His ways! 

To us His elder race He gave 6io 

To battle and to win, 
Without the chastisement of pain, 

Without the soil of sin. 

The younger son he willed to be 

A marvel in his birth : 
Spirit and flesh his parents were; 

His home was heaven and earth. 

The Eternal blessed His child, and armed, 

And sent him hence afar, 
To serve as champion in the field 620 

Of elemental war. 

"Praise to th-e Holiest in the height." A movement asso- 
ciated by English readers with the hymn particularly; 



or 



m » m \ m » m \ m m m 



^ ^ ^ 



r r f p 1 "I 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 53 

To be his Viceroy in the world 

Of matter, and of sense; 
Upon the frontier, towards the foe, 

A resolute defence. 

Angel 

We now have passed the gate, and are within 

The House of Judgment ; and whereas on earth 

Temples and palaces are formed of parts 

Costly and rare, but all material. 

So in the world of spirits nought is found, 630 

To mould withal and form into a whole, 

But what is immaterial; and thus 

The smallest portions of this edifice, 

Cornice, or frieze, or balustrade, or stair, 

The very pavement is made up of life — 

Of holy, blessed, and immortal beings. 

Who hymn their Maker's praise continually. 

Second Choir of Angelicals 

Praise to the Holiest in the height, 

And in the depth be praise: 
In all His words most wonderful; 640 

Most sure in all His ways ! 

Woe to thee, man! for he was found 

A recreant in the fight; 
And lost his heritage of heaven, 

And fellowship with light. 



54 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS ' 

Above him now the angry sky, 

Around the tempest's din; 
Who once had angels for his friends, 

Had but the brutes for kin. 

O man! a savage kindred they; 65c 

To flee that monster brood 
He scaled the seaside cave, and clomb 

The giants of the wood. 

With now a fear, and now a hope. 
With aids which chance supplied, 

From youth to eld, from sire to son, 
He lived, and toiled, and died. 

He dreed ^^ his penance age by age; 

And step by step began 
Slowly to doff his savage garb, 660 

And be again a man. 

And quickened by the Almighty's breath. 

And chastened by His rod, 
And taught by Angel-visitings, 

At length he sought his God: 

And learned to call upon His name, 

And in His faith create 
A household and a fatherland, 

A city and a state. 



10 



See Notes, p. 68. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 55 

Glory to Him who from the mire, 670 

In patient length of days, 
Elaborated into life 

A people to His praise! 

Soul 

The sound is Hke the rushing of the wind — 
The summer wind among the lofty pines; 
Swelling and dying, echoing round about, 
Now here, now distant, wild and beautiful; 
While, scattered from the branches it has stirred, 
Descend ecstatic odours. 

Third Choir of Angelicals 

Praise to the Holiest in the height, 680 

And in the depth be praise: 
In all His words most wonderful; 

Most sure in all His ways! 

The Angels, as beseemingly 

To spirit-kind was given, 
At once were tried and perfected, 

And took their seats in heaven. 

For them no twiUght or eclipse; 

No growth and no decay: 
'Twas hopeless, all-ingulfing night, 690 

Or beatific day. 



56 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

But to the younger race there rose 

A hope upon its fall ; 
And slowly, surely, gracefully, 

The morning dawned on all. 

And ages, opening out, di^ide 

The precious and the base, 
And from the hard and sullen mass, 

Mature the heirs of grace. 

O man! albeit the quickening ray, 700 

Lit from his second birth. 
Makes him at length what once he was, 

And heaven grows out of earth; 

Yet still between that earth and heaven — 

His journey and his goal — 
A double agony awaits 

His body and his soul. 

A double debt he has to pay — 

The forfeit of his sins, 
The chill of death is past, and now 710 

The penance-fire begins. 

Glory to Him, who evermore 

By truth and justice reigns; 
Who tears the soul from out its case. 

And burns away its stains! 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 57 

Angel 

They sing of thy approaching agony, 

Which thou so eagerly didst question of: 

It is the face of the Incarnate God 

Shall smite thee with that keen and subtle pain; 

And yet the memory which it leaves will be 720 

A sovereign febrifuge to heal the wound ; 

And yet withal it will the wound provoke, 

And aggravate and widen it the more. 

Soul 

Thou speakest mysteries; still methinks I know 
To disengage the tangle of thy words : 
Yet rather would I hear thy angel voice. 
Than for myself be thy interpreter. 

Angel 

When then — if such thy lot — thou seest thy Judge, 

The sight of Him will kindle in thy heart. 

All tender, gracious, reverential thoughts. 730 

Thou wilt be sick with love, and yearn for Him, 

And feel as though thou couldst but pity Him, 

That one so sweet should e'er have placed Himself 

At disadvantage such, as to be used 

So ^/ilely by a being so vile as thee. 

There is a pleading in His pensive eyes 

Will pierce thee to the quick, and trouble thee. 

And thou wilt hate and loathe thyself; for, though 

Now sinless, thou wilt feel that thou hast sinned, 



5^ THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

As never thou didst feel; and wilt desire 740 

To slink away, and hide thee from His sight 

And yet wilt have a longing aye to dwell 

Within the beauty of His countenance. 

And these two pains, so counter and so keen, — 

The longing for Him, when thou seest Him not; 

The shame of self at thought of seeing Him, — 

Will be thy veriest, sharpest purgatory. 

Soul 

My soul is in my hand: I have no fear, — 

In His dear might prepared for weal or woe. 

But hark! a grand mysterious harmony: 750 

It floods me, like the deep and solemn sound 

Of many waters. 

Angel 

We have gained the stairs 
Which rise towards the Presence-chamber ; there 
A band of mighty Angels keep the way 
On either side, and hymn the Incarnate God. 

Angels of the Sacred Stair 

Father, whose goodness none can know, but they 

Who see Thee face to face. 
By man hath come the infinite display 

Of Thy victorious grace; 760 

But fallen man — the creature of a day — 

Skills not that love to trace. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 59 

It needs, to tell the triumph Thou has wrought, 

An Angel's deathless fire, an Angel's reach of thought. 

It needs that very Angel, who with awe, 

Amid the garden shade, 
The great Creator in His sickness saw, 

Soothed by a creature's aid. 
And agonised, as victim of the Law 

Which He Himself had made; 770 

For who can praise Him in His depth and height. 
But he who saw Him reel amid that solitary fight ? 

Soul 

Hark! for the lintels of the presence-gate 
Are vibrating and echoing back the strain. 

Fourth Choir of Angelicals 

Praise to the Holiest in the height, 

And in the depth be praise: 
In all His words most wonderful; 

Most sure in all his ways! 

The foe blasphemed the Holy Lord, 

As if he reckoned ill, 780 

In that he placed His puppet man 
The frontier place to fill. 

For even in his best estate. 

With amplest gifts endued, 
A sorry sentinel was he, 

A being of flesh and blood. 



6o THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

As though a thing, who for his help 

Must needs possess a wife, 
Could cope with those proud rebel hosts, 

Who had angelic life. 790 

And when, by blandishment of Eve, 

That earth-born Adam fell, 
He shrieked in triumph, and he cried, 

"A sorry sentinel; 

The Maker by His word is bound, 

Escape or cure is none ; 
He must abandon to his doom. 

And slay His darling son.'^ 

Angel 

And now the threshold, as we traverse it, 

Utters aloud its glad responsive chant. 800 

Fifth Choir of Angelicals 

Praise to the Holiest in the height, 

And in the depth be praise: 
In all His words most wonderful; 

Most sure in all His ways! 

O loving wisdom of our God! 

When all was sin and shame, 
A second Adam to the fight 

And to the rescue came. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 61 

O wisest love! that flesh and blood 

Which did in Adam fail, 810 

Should strive afresh against the foe, 

Should strive and should prevail; 

And that a higher gift than grace 

Should flesh and blood refine, 
God's Presence and His very Self, 

And Essence all divine. 

O generous love! that He who smote 

In man for man the foe, 
The double agony in man 

For man should undergo; 820 

And in the garden secretly, 

And on the cross on high, 
Should teach his brethren and inspire 

To suffer and to die. 



§6 

Angel 

Thy judgment now is near, for we are come 
Into the veiled presence of our God. 

Soul 
I hear the voices that I left on earth. 



62 THE DREAM OF GERONTJUS' 

Angel 

It is the voice of friends around thy bed, 

Who say the ''Subvenite'' with the priest. 

Hither the echoes come; before the Throne 830 

Stands the great Angel of the Agony, 

The same who strengthened Him, what time He knelt 

Lone in the garden shade, bedewed with blood. 

That Angel best can plead with Him for all 

Tormented souls, the dying and the dead. 

Angel of the Agony 

Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee; 
Jesu! by that cold dismay which sickened Thee; 
Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrilled in Thee; 
Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee; 
Jesu ! by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee ; 840 

Jesu! by that innocence which girdled Thee; 
Jesu ! by that sanctity which reigned in Thee ; 
Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee; 
Jesu ! spare these souls which are so dear to Thee, 
WTio in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee; 
Hasten, Lord, their hour, and bid them come to Thee, 
To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on 
Thee. 

Soul 
I go before my Judge. Ah! .... 

"Angel of the Agony." Note the solemn and pathetic rhythm 
effect. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 63 

Angel 

.... Praise to His Name! 
The eager spirit has darted from my hold, 850 

And, with the intemperate energy of love, 
Flies to the dear feet of Emmanuel; 
But, ere it reach them, the keen sanctity, 
Which with its effluence, like a glory, clothes 
And circles round the Crucified, has seized, 
And scorched, and shrivelled it; and now it hes 
Passive and still before the awful Throne. 
O happy, suffering soul ! for it is safe. 
Consumed, yet quickened, by the glance of God. 

Soul 

Take me away, and in the lowest deep 860 

There let me be, 
And there in hope the lone night-watches keep, 

Told out for me. 
There, motionless and happy in my pain, 

Lone, not forlorn, — 
There will I sing my sad perpetual strain, 

Until the morn. 

" Talze me away, and in the lowest deep, 
There let me be," etc. 
The catalexis — pause — is finely used here: 

r l^rli^»l== rlr rlr r!P \* rlr rlr ^^ 



64 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast, 

Which ne'er can cease 
To throb, and pine, and languish, till possest 870 

Of its Sole Peace. 
There will I sing my absent Lord and Love: — 

Take me away. 
That sooner I may rise, and go above, 
And see Him in the truth of everlasting day. 

§7 

Angel 

Now let the golden prison ope its gates, 

Making sweet music, as each fold revolves 

Upon its ready hinge. And ye great powers, 

Angels of Purgatory, receive from me 

My charge, a precious soul, until the day, 880 

When, from all bond and forfeiture released, 

I shall reclaim it for the courts of hght. 

Souls in Purgatory " 

1. Lord, Thou hast been our refuge: in every genera- 

tion; 

2. Before the hills were born, and the world was: 

from age to age Thou art God. 

3. Bring us not, Lord, very low: for Thou hast said. 

Come back again, ye sons of Adam. 

^ See Notes, p. 68. 



THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 65 

4. A thousand years before Thine eyes are but as 

yesterday: and as a watch of the night which is 
come and gone. 

5. The grass springs up in the morning: at evening- 

tide it shrivels up and dies. 

6. So we fail in Thine anger: and in Thy wrath 

we are troubled. 

7. Thou hast set our sins in Thy sight: and our 

round of days in the light of Thy countenance. 

8. Come back, O Lord! how long: and be entreated 

for Thy servants. 890 

Q. In Thy morning we shall be filled with Thy mercy : 
we shall rejoice and be in pleasure all our days. 

10. We shall be glad according to the days of our 

humiUation: and the years in which we have 
seen evil. 

11. Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and on Thy 

work: and direct their children. 

12. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon 

us : and the work of our hands, establish Thou it. 
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy 

Ghost. 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: 

world without end. Amen. 



66 THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS 

Angel 

Softly and gently, dearly-ransomed soul, 

In my most loving arms I now enfold thee, 

And, o'er the penal waters, as they roll, 

I poise thee, and I lower thee, and hold thee. 900 

And carefully I dip thee in the lake,^^ 

And thou, without a sob or a resistance, 

Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take, . 
Sinking deep, deeper into the dim distance. 

Angels, to whom the wiUing task is given. 

Shall tend, and nurse, and lull thee, as thou Hest; 

And Masses on the earth, and prayers in heaven, 

Shall aid thee at the Throne of the Most Highest. 

Farewell, but not for ever! brother dear, 

Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; 910 

Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here. 

And I will come and wake thee on the morrow. 

"Softly and gently, dearly ransomed soul. 
In my most loving arms I now enfold thee," etc. 



5 


z 


^ 


u 


• -^15 5 5 


t r 


*i 1 


: 


m 
U 


c 


* 


5 5 5 5!: 

^^ See Notes, p. 69. 


r r 


^ -1 



L. of C. 

■0 jO T 



NOTES 

I. (p. 25.) Gerontius dreams that he is dying. He has not 
strength to pray. He hears the persons near his bed praying for 
him, in the language prescribed by the Church, " The Litany for 
the Dying." The three opening invocations are in Greek, "Kyrie 
Eleison" ("Lord, have mercy"), "Christe Eleison " ("Christ, 
have mercy "), "Kyrie Eleison " (''Lord, have mercy "). The next 
invocation in the Litany is "^Sancta Maria, Ora pro eo," which 
Cardinal Newman translates into English. With the exception 
of the first three and the last two invocations, the Litany is in 
Latin. The Litany is too long for the purpose of the poem, 
and the author has translated into English some of the invoca- 
tions that would naturally strike the "fainting soul." "Be 
merciful" ("Propitius esto"), the assistants continue, still using 
parts of the Litany as versified by Cardinal Newman. 

2. (p. 29.) Holy Strong One^ Holy God, 

From the depth I pray to Thee. 
Mercy, O my Judge, for me; 
Spare me, Lord. 

In the Proper for the season of Good Friday the passage which 
suggested this reads, in Greek and Latin: 

ist choir. Agios O Theos (O Hol^ God). 
2d choir. Sanctus Deus (O Holy God), 
ist choir. Agios Ischyros (O Holy Strong One). 
2d choir. Sanctus Fortis (O Holy Strong One). 

67 



68 NOTES 

3. (p. 30.) Death dissolves me. 

4. (p. 32.) The final hour is here. "Into Thy hands." The 
whole of this prayer for the dying is: "Into Thy hands, O 
Lord, I commend my spirit. O Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 
Holy Mary, pray for me. O Mary, Mother of grace, Mother 
of mercy, do thou protect me from the enemy and receive me 
at the hour of death." 

5. (p. 32.) "Go forth, O Christian soul, from this world.'* 
These words begin the prayer of the priest, recited while the 
soul is departing from the body. It is paraphrased in English 
by the Cardinal. 

6. (p. 35.) "Another marvel." According to the teaching of 
the Catholic Church, each soul is given at its birth in charge of a 
Guardian Angel. It is this angel that sings, "My work is done." 
"Alleluia" is from two Hebrew words united by a hyphen. It 
means "Praise the Lord." St. John in the Apocalypse says 
that he heard the angels singing it in heaven. It occurs in 
the last fifty Psalms and in Tobias. 

7. (p. 41.) When the soul has departed, the priest says the 
prayer beginning "Subvenite, Sancti Dei; occurrite Angeli 
Domini," etc. ("Come to his assistance, ye saints of God," etc.). 

8. (p. 49.) "Extension," "the position of parts outside 
parts." See p. 366, General Metaphysics, by John Rickaby, 
S.J., Manuals of CathoUc Philosophy. 

9. (p. 51.) St. Francis d'Assisi. In 1224, while on Mount 
Alvemus, keeping a fast of forty days in honor of St. Michael, 
a seraph appeared and marked the hands, feet, and right side of 
St. Francis with the five wounds of Our Lord's Passion. 

10. (p. 54.) "Dreed," from the old English verb "dreogan," 
to suffer. 

11. (p. 64.) This appeal is paraphrased by the author from 
the Psalms. The words at the end are translated from the 
Lesser Doxology: "Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. 



NOTES 69 

Sicut erat in principio et nunc, et in seecula saeculorum. 
Amen." The Greater Doxology begins: "Gloria in excelsis 
Deo." "Doxology" is from two Greek words meaning "praise" 
and a "discourse." 

12. (p. 66.) In Dante's Vision of Purgatory (Canto I.) hell is 
spoken of as a "cruel sea," and the water surrounding the 
Island of Purgatory as the "better waves." The spirit of 
Gerontius is dropped into these "better waves" — "miglior 
acqua." 

" Per correr miglior acqua alzgu^ vela 
Omai la navicella del mio ingegno''^ 

Che lascia dietro a se mar si crudele." 

L 

" O'er better waves to speed her rapid course, 
The light bark of my genius lifts her sail, 
"Well pleased to leave so cruel sea behind." 

Gary's Translation. 



TUST PUBLISHED 



A 

History of England 

FOR 

Catholic Schools 



BY 

E. WYATT-DAVIES, MA. 



TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 




WTTH FOURTEEN MAPS IN THE TEXT 



xvi + ^40 pages Crown 8vo Price $1.10 



LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 

91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 

1903 



EXTRACT FROM AUTHORS S PREFACE 

THE need of a text-book of English History for 
secondary schools and colleges, which, while 
giving a narrative of political events, should 
at the same time emphasize matters of spe- 
cial interest to Catholics, has been frequently pointed 
out by Catholic head-masters and teachers. This need 
it is the object of the present volume to meet. To 
avoid misconceptions, however, I take this opportunity 
to point out that this book is a political and not an 
ecclesiastical history. 

The book, then, is not an attempt to summarize the 
history of the Catholic Church in England, and for this 
reason many facts of the deepest interest and significance 
are omitted. Where I have had occasion to touch on 
religious questions I have endeavored to avoid a con- 
troversial tone, believing it to be advisable, on grounds 
both of religion and of patriotism, that young Catholics 
should not be encouraged to view the facts of England's 
development through an atmosphere of controversy. 
At the same time, in writing an account of the Reforma- 
tion, I have not hesitated to express an opinion on the 
conduct of its promoters ; but I have tried to present a 
candid statement of the changes which were carried 
out, and I believe that, in commenting adversely on 
the means employed by the authors of the Reforma- 
tion in England, I have not gone beyond what has 
been said by non-Catholic writers of authority in mat- 
ters of history. In general it has been my aim to 
avoid as much as possible the expression of opinions, 
and to give a simple statement of facts. In the 
investigation of these a Catholic writer must apply 
the same rules of evidence which are valid for all 
students of history. 



George III. 391 

reviving the contest with Wilkes. In 1768 Wilkes was elected 
for Middlesex, but was arrested and sentenced to two years' 
imprisonment. He published an attack on Lord Weymouth, 
secretary of war, and for so doing was expelled from the 
House. He was twice re-elected by the electors of Middlesex : 
on each occasion the House refused to allow him to sit, and 
at last ordered his opponent. Colonel Luttrell, who had 
received 300 votes against iioo recorded for Wilkes, to take 
the seat. The decision raised vehement opposition both in 
Parliament and in the country. 

The Ministry was now hopelessly discredited. Chatham 
had definitely resigned, and Grafton thus lost the prestige of 
his tacit support. In 1769 the "Letters of Junius " began to 
appear in the Public Advertiser. Their authorship, although 
with strong presumption ascribed to Sir Philip Francis, has 
never been cleared up. They were, however, the work of 
some one who had access to information of first-rate impor- 
tance, and the skill and knowledge shown in the fierce attacks 
of Junius on leading statesmen produced a profound sensation. 
In 1770 Chatham, who had returned to politics, attacked the 
Government on its policy towards America and its treatment 
of Wilkes, and Grafton resigned. 

7. Events leading to the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence (1770- 1 776). — The Opposition was too much divided 
to form a ministry, and George skilfully utilised its dissensions 
to raise Lord North to the position of prime minister, George 
had now freed himself from the ascendency of the " Revolution 
Families," and with the support of the Tories and of those 
Whigs whom he had won over, he now began a period of 
personal rule such as no sovereign had attempted since the 
Revolution. Lord North, an able statesman of the second 
rank, relying on the king and following the royal dictates, was 
able to maintain himself in power for twelve years. The 
immense patronage of the Crown, exercised in the gift of 
offices and pensions, was wielded by the king to secure a 
majority in the Commons. George watched the debates with 
the keenness of an old parliamentarian, and distributed his 



Victoria. 48 1 

Great Britain should invite the nations of the • world to a 
friendly rivalry in the arts of peace, and that the Great Inter- 
national Exhibition of 1851, held in London, should form the 
climax of a period of national progress due largely to the in- 
ternational exchange of commodities. 

13. Fall of the Russell Ministry (1852). — Early in 
185 1 it had become clear that the Ministry could not last much 
longer. It was defeated on a financial question in the Com- 
mons, and only the refusal of the Peelite Conservatives^ to 
work with the Protectionist Conservatives enabled Russell to 
retain power. A crisis was produced by Palmerston's action 
with reference to France. The spectre of communism had 
alarmed the French middle classes, and Louis Napoleon, 
nephew of the great emperor, took advantage of this to get 
himself elected President of the Republic (1848). In 1851, in 
defiance of his oath to the constitution. Napoleon carried out 
a coup d'etat^ and established a military despotism. His action 
was, however, ratified by a vote of the French people, and he 
became emperor, as Napoleon III. 

Palmerston, without consulting the other ministers, expressed 
to the French ambassador in London his concurrence witlf 
Napoleon's action. Lord John Russell at once demanded an 
explanation of this indiscreet action, and, as his defence was 
unsatisfactory, Palmerston was dismissed. The Ministry did 
not long survive, and, mainly through Palmerston's action, the 
Government was defeated over a Militia Bill, and at once 
resigned. 

CHIEF EVENTS. 

A.D. 

Chartist riots 1839. 

Penny Post established 1839. < 

First Afghan War 1838-1842. 

First Chinese War 1839-1842. 

Newman becomes a Catholic ...... 1845. 

Repeal of the Corn Laws 1846. 

Restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy . . 1850. 

Ecclesiastical Titles Bill 1851. 

Great Exhibition 1851. 

* Sir Robert Peel had died in 1850. 

2 I 



A LIST OF 

WORKS ON ENGLISH 

PUBLISHED BY 

LONGMANS, GREEN. & COo 

91 AND 93 Fifth Avenue, New York 



GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION. 

Baldwin — A College Manual of Rhetoric. 

By Charles Sears Baldwin, Ph.D., Yale University. Crown 8vo. 
460 pages. $1.35* 

Contents: introduction.— Part I. Prose Composition. A. Logi^ 

CAL COjMPOSITION (Persuasion and Exposition) : I. The Elements of Logical 
Composition ; (i) The Composition as a Whole ; (ii) The Paragraph ; (iii) 
The Sentence. 2. ^Exposition : (i) Scope; (ii) Aim; (iii) Method; (iv) 
Literary Form. 3. Persuasion: (i) Scope; (n) Argu/nent ; (iii) Literary 
Forms. B. Literary CoMPOSiTlo.NMNarration and Description): i. The 
Elements of Literary Composition (i) Unity ; (ii) Coherence ; (iii) Emphasis. 
2. Narration: (i) Character; (ii) Fiot ; (iii) Literary Forms. 3. Description: 
{\) Definition : The Limits of Description ; (ii) The Details of the Whole 
{Unity and Emphasis) ; (iii) The Mechanism {Coherence). — Part II. Prose 
Diction. A. Usage. B. Sivle : (i) The Personal Use of Language, or 
Originality ; (ii) Elegance; (iii) Directness, or Force ; (iv) The Balance of 
Elegince and Force in Classic Prose ; (v) Llarmony ; (vi) Sincerity. — 
Appendix, i. Themes and Exercises : Notes, References, Examples. 
(Throughout these Notes, etc., the section numbers correspond with those 
of the text.) 2. Subjects for Expository Essays: (i) Reports; (ii) Essays 
Supported by Research ; (iii) Essays Supported by Extended Research ; (iv) 
Essays Lnvolving Consultation of Authorities ; {\) Longer Essays for Ad- 
vanced Students: Definition, Division, Compilation. An Example of Simple 
Research; The Writing of Criticism. 3. Themes and Exercises. Notes, 
Examples and References. 4. The Elements of Literary Composition. ^. 
Narration: Six Versions of a Tale. Plots for Stories. 6. Description: 
Directions for a Course of Frequent Short Themes. 7. Prose Diction. Di- 
rections for Translation. — Longer Selections for Study. — Index. 

Baldwin — The Expository Paragraph and Sentence. 

An Elementary Manual of Composition for college classes, by Charles 
Sears Bat,1)WL\, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric in Yale University. 
i6mo. $0.50* 

Matthews— The Philosophy of the Short=Story. 

By Brander Matthews, D.C.L., Professor of Dramatic Literature in 
Columbia L^niversity. i6mo. 83 pages. $0.50. 



Longmans, Green, S- Co.'s Publications 



Longmans' English Grammar. 

Edited by GeorGe J. Smith, M.A., Ph.D., member of the Board of 
Examiners, Department of Education, New York Lity. Joint author 
of Maxwell and Smith's " Writing in English." i2mo. 343 pages. 65 
cents net. By mail, 70 cents. 

Contents: Parti. Parts of Speech. — Part IL Classification and 
Inflection. — Part III. Analysis of Sentences. — Part IV. His- 

TORY AND DeRIYATION — XOTES FOR TEACHERS — JnDEX. 

In the preparation of this book the constant aim has been to make the 
language clear and simple; to approach each point through exercises and 
illustrations, so that the pupil "maylearn by doing " ; to arrange the points 
so that the subject deYclops easily and naturalU, and to conceive and state 
grammatical principles in a sound and scholarly manner. 

Especial attention is invited to the simple yet comprehensive first view 
presented in Part I.; to the treatment of the subiunctive mood, and of verbals, 
and to the fact that formal rules and definitions, clearly and succinctly stated, 
are given an important place, and yet are never permitted to usurp the place 
of exercises for illustration and application. 

It is technical grammar, intended to be used in the last two years of the 
grammar school, and thoroughly fitting pupils to take up their high school 
work in the classics. 

The avoidance of needless particularity and of technical puzzles, and the 
constant approach to the grammatical point of view by way of concrete ex- 
amples, make this text-book an effective aid to the teacher who desires to 
impart the essentials of Grammar intelligently and successfully. The many 
teachers who have used Longman's School Grammar will recognize this as 
being based on that well-known work of David .Salmon which is character- 
ized by a notably clear and inductive development, by wealth of illustration, 
and by simplicity of statement. All the excellencies of the old book have 
been retained in the new, and such added improvements have been intro- 
duced as appeared to be called for. 

J. V. Calhoun, Supt. of Schools, i Martin Simpson, Superintendent 

Baton Rouge, La.: — "It is acorn- of Schools, Wadena, Alinn. : — "I 

bination of what is essentially good am especially interested in the sini- 

in the old standard grammars, and pie and clear language used in its 

the best methods lately adopted for pages, and the natural way in which 

making plain the grammatical prin- the subject is approached and devel- 

ciples of our language.'' oped. The selections for study are 

The Hon. Charles R. Skinner, profuse, and of the very best litera- 

State Superintendent of Public In- t"i"e, so that a ?tudy of the text is 

struction, New York: — " It makes almost equivalent to a study of clas- 

me wish that I could go to school ^ics in connection with the study of 

again." ^ grammar." 



Longmans, Green, &- Co/s Publications 3 

Longmans* School Grammar. 

By David Salmon, Author of "The Art of Teaching " *« School Com- 
position," " Longmans' Object Lessons," etc. i2mo. 272 pages. 
$0.75.* New Edition, Revised. 

Contents : Part L Parts of Speech. Part IL Classification and 
Inflection. Part III, Analysis of Sentences. Part IV. History 
AND Derivation — Notes for Teachers and Index. 

This Grammar furnishes a thorough preparation for the grammatical 
study of the modern languages and the classics, and is recommended for the 
first year in the High School course where advanced work is required. 

It is based on the most approved modern principles of language and 
pedagogy, and contains all the essentials of Grammar made as simple and 
easy as possible without sacrifice of accuracy. 

Samuel Thurber, of the Girls' 
High School, Boston: — " It is sim- 



Thomas R. Price, Columbia 

University, New York City: — '*In 

soundness of method and correctness 

T -^i- T, • • -I f I of statement, it is, within its limit of 

Isaac Thomas, Prmcipal of • ^1, u 1 -c t u r- ..i, .. 

\^\. <^.\.r.r.\ P.,..i,W.r. v.._-T^ i sizc, thc bcst English Gramuw that 



ply a perfect Grammar." 



High School, Burlington, Va.: — "It ' t u ' >> 
is the best working English Gram- 
mar I have ever used, or even seen, 
and just such a book as — in my judg- 
ment — any good teacher would want 
to use." 



J. B. Ragan, Principal of Edi- 
son School, Denver, Col.: — "My 
seventh and eighth grades have 
gained more knowledge of grammar 
since the time they took up Long- 



Nation, New York: — "The 
Grammar deserves to supersede all 
others with which we are ac- 
quainted." 

Wm. E. Collar, Roxbury Latin 
School, Roxbury, Mass.: — "I shall 
use it hereafter in the Roxbury I>atin 
School. I consider it the most 
practical, the most original and in- 



mans' than they had gained alto- j teresting, and the wisest Grammar 
gether before that time," | for children I have ever seen." 

Longmans' School Grammar has been adopted for use in the Public 
Schools of New York, Baltimore, Pawtucket, Tacoma, Denver, Westfield, 
Mass.; Middletown, Conn.; Dubuque, la.; Wilmington, Del.; Bloomfield, 
N. J.; New Brunswick, N. J., etc., etc. It is also in use in many of the 
leading preparatory schools, such as Adelphi i\cademy, Brooklyn ; Dr. 
Sach's School, New York; St. Mark's School, Southboro, Mass.; St. Paul's 
School,, Concord, N. H., etc. 

Longmans' Briefer Grammar. 

By David Salmon. i2mo. 128 pages. $0.35* 

Contents: Part I. Parts of Speech. Part II. Parsing — Notes 
for Teachers. 

Longmans' Briefer Grammar consists of Parts I. and II. of the School 
Grammar, with the text partially revised, and extends through the work 
usually required in the seventh year. 



Loiwmans, Green, &- Co.'s Publications, 



Longmans' School Composition. 

By David Salmon. Crown 8vo. 310 pages. $0.80* 

Contents: Part I. Junior. — Synthesis of Simple Sentences — Prac- 
tice IN Simple Sentences — Sentences Combined — Punctuation 

Easy Narratives, (a). Stories to Reproduce, {b). Skeletons of 

Stories to Reproduce, {c). Stories in verse to be written in prose — 
Easy Essays — Letters — Grammar (Typical Errors). Part II. 
Senior. — On the Choice of Words — On the Arrangement of 
Words — Grammar, a section dealing with every grammatical 
rule likely to cause difficulty — The Sentence — Simile and 
Metaphor — Brevity, with examples of Superfluous words — 
Strength — Miscellaneous Sentences to be Amended — Mis- 
cellaneous Subjects for Composition — Notes for Teachers, 
etc. 

Longmans' School Composition is what its name implies. Its rules and 
general hints upon the correct and literary use of English in writing and 
composition are everywhere fortified by examples from the best authorities. 



Byron Groce, Boston Latin 
School : — " I like Longmans' School 
Composition very much. It is the best 
book of its sort 1 have ever seen." 

Professor Edw. M. Traber, 
State College, Fort Collins, Col.: — 



" I think that it is the finest book of 
its sort I have ever seen. It is so 
scholarly, thorough, and sensible. I 
read and reread the book, finding at 
each inspection some newer and bet- 
ter points." 



Longmans* Junior Scliool Composition. 

By David Salmon. A first book on English Composition for Junior 
Classes. Crown Svo. 104 pages. $0.30* 

This book is identical with Part I. of Longmans' School Composition, 
with " Notes for Teachers " added. 



THE SWAN SHAKESPEARE. 

An entirely new illustrated series for use in schools, with introductions 
and notes, specimen examination questions, etc. The following volumes 
are now ready. Each, $0.35. 



As You Like It. 
Henry V. 
Julius Caesar. 
King John. 

J. W. Travell, Principal of Still- 
man High School, Plainfield,N. J.: — 
"I am glad to receive this inexpen- 
sive text in your new Shakespeare 



Macbeth. 

Merchant of Venice. 
Richard II. 
The Tempest. 

series, and to find it of such high 
character in the clearness of the 
printed pages and in carefulness and 
fulness of annotation." 



Longmans, Green, &- Go's Publications, 5 

ENGLISH LITERATURE, SELECTIONS, ETC. 

Arnold — A Manual of English Literature, Historical and 
Critical. 

By Thomas Arnold, M.A., of University College, Oxford; Fellow 
of the Royal University of Ireland, and Professor of English Language 
and Literature in the University College, Stephen's Green, Dublin. 
Seventh Edition, Revised and in part Re-written (1897). With an 
Appendix of English Metres, and Index. Crown 8vo. 672 pages. 
$2.00* 

A standard work, used in many schools and colleges in England 
and America, among which may be mentioned the Georgetown Uni- 
versity at Washington, and the College of the City of New York, 
where the work has recently been adopted for class use. 

The first 500 pages are taken up with a concise history of English 
literature by periods and authors. Then follows a " critical section " 
of a hundred or more pages in which English literature is considered 
not in sequence of time, but affinity of subjects. Epic Poetry, 
Heroic Poetry, Narrative Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Pastoral Poetry, 
Lyrical Poetry, Prose, Fiction, Oratory, History, Theology, Political 
Science, and Criticism, are each given a section. An Appendix and 
Index complete the volume. 

Bacon — The Essays. 

Text only, with Index. i6mo. 262 pages. $0.75* 

A work alike convenient for use in school classes, and attractive 
to the general reader. The introduction is a scholarly discussion of 
Bacon's Life and Work. 

Marlowe — Tragedy of Dr. Faustus. 

With Introduction and Notes by Wilhelm Wagner, Ph.D., Pro- 
fessor at the Johanneum, Hamburg. (London Series of English 
Classics.) i6mo. 180 pages. $0.60* 

Dobson — A Handbook of English Literature. 

By Austin Dobson. A/'ew edition, revised, with new chapters, and ex- 
tended to the present time by W. Hall Griffin, B.A., Professor of Eng- 
lish Language and Literature at Queen's College, London. Crown 8vo. 
400 pages. $2.50 

Higginson — Short Studies of American Authors. 

By Thomas Wentworth HiGGiNSON. i6mo. Cloth. $0.50 

A little volume of biographical studies of Hawthorne, Poe, Tho- 
reau, Howells, and others, suited for reading in upper grades. 

Jonson — Every Man in his Humour. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Henry B. Wheatley, F. S.A., 
author of " Round About Piccadilly and Pall Mall," etc. (LONDON 
Series OF English Classics. ) i6mo. 272 pages. $0,75* 



6 Longmans, Green, &- Go's Publications. 

Longmans' Hand=book of English Literature. 

By R. McWiLLiAM, B.A., Inspector to the London School Board. 

Complete in one volume. $1.35*. New Edition 

Five Parts, each part sold separately, viz.: 

Part I. — From the Earliest Times to Chaucer. i2mo. 122 

pages. $0.30* 

Part II. — From Chaucer to Shakespeare. i2mo. 130 pages. 

$0.30-^ 

Part III.— From Bex JoNSON TO Locke. i2mo. 124 pages. $0.30* 

Part IV. — From Swift to Cowper. i2mo. 132 pages. $0.30* 

Part V. — From Burke to the Present Time. i2mo. 162 pages. 

$0.30* 

This volume is the outcome of an attempt to place in the hands 
of pupil, teachers, and other young students, a simple and interest- 
ing story of the great English writers. 

It is meant to give a picture of the progress of English literature 
from its first rude beginnings, through its times of alternate flourish- 
ing and languor, and to show its varying aims in poetry and philos- 
ophy and divinity. 

In giving account of the lives of writers, special care has been 
taken, wherever it was possible, to trace the history of their youth 
and of the influences which guided and moulded them ; as only the 
best writers have been chosen, so special attention has been di- 
rected only upon their most excellent work. To kindle admiration 
in the minds of young students is for them more immediately bene- 
ficial ; the critical spirit will come later with fuller knowledge and 
riper judgment. 

Journal of Education: — "The ' Mr. E. F. Lohr, Kalamazoo Col- 
account of the lives of the chief Eng- \ lege, Kalamazoo, Mich.: — "I con- 
lish writers is interesting and accu- ' sider it the most acceptable text on 
rate, while the illustrative extracts ! this subject so far as my familiarity 
from their works are chosen with I with the texts published goes." 
taste and judgment, and woven into ' l, e, Robinson, Principal Car- 
the narrative with skill. . . . thage Fitting School, Carthage, Mo. : 

— "It seems to me that your Hand- 
Mr. McWilliam evidently knows and book of English Literature is the 
loves his subject, and it will not be most charming manual on that sub 



his fault if his readers do not in the 



ject, for school use, I have yet ex- 



end also know and love it." i amined. " 

Longmans' British Classics. 

A Xew Series, Edited for Use in Schools. The volumes now ready 
include " Macaulay's Essay on Clive," " William Pitt," " The Earl of 
Chatham," "Addison." i2mo. Each, $0.50* 

Macaulay's Essay on Warren Hastings. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, for Use in Elementary Schools. 
By S. Hales. Fourth Edition. i2mo. 232 pages. $0.50* 



Longmans, Green, & Co.'s Publications, 



LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 



A series designed for use in secondary schools in accordance with the 
system of study recommended and outlined by the National Committee of 
Ten, and in direct preparation for the uniform entrance requirements in 
English, now adopted by the principal American colleges and universi- 
ties. Each volume contains full Notes, Introductions, "Suggestions 
for Teachers and Students," with bibliographies, and, in many cases, 
lists of topics recommended for further reading or study, subjects for 
themes and compositions, specimen examination papers, etc. It is there- 
fore hoped that the series will contribute largely to the working out of 
sound methods of teaching English. Crown 8vo. Edited by George 
Rice Carpenter, A.B., Professor of Rhetoric and English Compo- 
sition in Columbia University. 



CONTRIBUTORS TO THE SERIES. 



Prof. Barrett Wendell, 

Prof. George Pierce Baker, 

Prof. William Lyon Phelps, 

Prof. Albert S. Cook, 

Dr. Charles Sears Baldwin, 

Bliss Perry, .... 

Prof. Brander Matthews, 

Prof. George Edward Woodberry, 

Prof. William P. Trent, . 

Prof. George R. Carpenter, 

Mr. William T. Brewster, 

Dr. G.. C. D. Odell, 

Prof. Robert Herrick, 

Prof. Robert Morss Lovett. 

Prof. John Matthews Manly, . 

Prof. Fred Newton Scott, 

Prof. Edward Everett Hale, Jr., 

Prof." Charles F. Richardson, . 

Prof. Francis B. Gummere, 

Mr. Herbert Bates, . . Brookly 

Prof. Mary A. Jordan, 

Rev. Huber Gray Buehler, 

Mr. Percival Chubb, 

Mr. James Greenleaf Croswell 

Mr. Wilson Farrand, 

Dr. D. O. S. Lowell, 

Supt. William H. Maxw^ell, 

Mr. Edwin L. Miller, 

Prof. S. C. Hart, . 



Dr. Lewis B. Semple, 



Harvard University 

Harvard University 

. Yale University 

. Yale University 

. Yale University 

Formerly of Princeton University 

Columbia University 

Columbia University 

Barnard College 

Columbia University 

Columbia University 

Columbia University 

University of Chicago 

University of Chicago 

Universitv of Chicaeo 

University of Michigan 

Union College 

Dartmouth College 

Haverford College 

n M. T. High School, New York 

Smith College 

Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. 

Ethical Culture Schools, N. Y. 

Brearlev School, N. Y. 

Newark Academy. X. J. 

Roxbury Latin School, Boston 

. New York 

Englewood (III.) High School 

Wellesley College 



Brooklyn Commercial High School, N. Y. 



8 Longmans, Green, &- Co.'s Publications, 

Longfmans' English Qassics* — Continued, 
Prescribed for Examinations as Noted Below. 

Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Albert S. Cook, Ph.D., 
L. H.D., Professor of the English Language and Literature in Yale 
University. Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

[For Study, 1903 to 1908.] 

Carlyle's Essay on Burns. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Wilson Farrand, A.M., 
Associate Principal of the Newark Academy, Newark, N. J. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 
[For Reading, 1903, 1904* 1905.] 

Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Herbert Bates, A.B., 
Brooklyn Manual Training High School, New York. 

Cloth, $0.40; boards, $0.30 
[For Reading, 1903 to 1908.] 

Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Charles F. Richardson, 
Winkley Professor of the English Language and Literature in Dart- 
mouth College. Cloth, $0.60; boards, $0.50 

Defoe's History of the Plague in London. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Professor G, R. Carpenter, 
of Columbia University. Cloth, $0.75 

De Quincey's Flight of a Tartar Tribe. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by-CHARLES Sears Baldwin, 
Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Rhetoric in Yale University. 

Cloth, $0.40; boards, $0.30 

Dryden's Palamon and Arcite. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by William Tenney Brewster, 
A.M., Tutor in Rhetoric in Columbia University. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

George Eliot's Silas Marner. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Robert Herrick, A.B., 
Assistant Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Chicago. 

Cloth, $5.00; boards, $0.40 
[For Reading, 1903 to 1908.] 

Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield. 

Edited with Introduction and Notes, by Mary A. Jordan, A.M., 
Professor of Rhetoric and Old English in Smith College. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 
[For Reading, 1903, 1904, 1905-] 



Longmans, Green, &- Co.'s Publications. g 

Longfmans' English Classics. — Continued, 
Irving's Tales of a Traveller. 

With an Introduction by Brander Matthews, D.C. L., Professor of 
Dramatic Literature in Columbia University, and explanatory Notes by 
the General Editor of the series. Cloth, $i.oo 

Irving's Life of Goldsmith. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Lewis B. vSemple, M.A., 
Ph.D., Instructor in English, Brooklyn Commercial High School, 
New York. Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

[For Reading, 1906, 1907, 1908.] 

Alacaulay's Essay on Milton. 

Edited by James Greenleaf Croswell, A.B., Head-master of the 
Brearley School, New York. Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

Macaulay's Essays on Milton and Addison. 

Edited By James Greenleaf Croswell, A.B. , Head-master of the 
Brearley School, New York. Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

[For Study, 1903, 1904, 1905.] 

Macaulay*s Life of Samuel Johnson. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by the Rev. Huber Gray 
BuEHLER of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. Cloth, $0.50. 

Macaulay's Essays : 

1. Life of Saimiel Johnson, by the Reverend HuBER GRAY Buehler, 
Hotchkiss School. 

2. Addison, by James Greenleaf Croswell, Brearley School. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 
[For Study, 1906, 1907, 1908.] 

Milton's L'Allegro, II Penseroso, Comus, and Lycidas. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes by William P. Trent, A.M., 
Professor of English in Barnard College. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 
[For Study, 1903 to 1908.] 

Milton's Paradise Lost. Books I. and IL 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Edward Everett Hale, 
Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Rhetoric and Logic in Union College. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

Pope's Homer's Iliad. Books I., VI., XXII. and XXIV. 

Edited by William H. Maxwell, A.M., Ph.D.. Superintendent of 
City Schools, New York; and Percival Chubb, Prin. High School, 
The Ethical Culture Schools. Cloth, $0,50; boards, $0.40 



10 Longmans, Green, 6r Co.'s Publications. 

Longmans' English Classics, — Contimted* 
Scott*s Ivanhoe. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Bliss Perry, A.M., Sometime 
Professor of Oratory and ^^sthetic Criticism in Princeton University. 

Cloth, $0.75; boards, $0.60 
[For Reading, 1903 to 1908.] 

Scott's Lady of the Lake. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by George Rice Carpenter, 
Professor of Rhetoric and English Composition in Columbia University. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 
[For Reading, 1906, 1907, 1908.] 

Scott* s Mar m ion. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Robert Morss Lo^"ETT, 
A.B., Assistant Professor of English in the University of Chicago. 

Cloth, $0.75 

Scott's Woodstock. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Bliss Perry, A.M., formerly 
Professor of Oratory and ^Esthetic Criticism in Princeton University. 

Cloth, $0.75 

Shakspere's As You Like It. 

With an Introduction by Barrett Wendell, A.B., Professor of Eng- 
lish in Harvard University ; and Notes by William Lyox Phelps, 
Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English Literature in Yale University. 

Cloth, $0.60 

Shakspere's Macbeth. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by John Matthews ^Iaxley, 
Ph.D., Professor of English in the University of Chicago. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

[For Study, 1903 to 1905. For Reading, 1906 to 1908.] 
Shakspere's Merchant of Venice. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by -Francis B. Gummere, Ph.D., 
Professor of English in Haverford College. Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

[For Reading, 1903 to 1908.] 
Shakspere's Julius Caesar, 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by George C. D, Odell, Ph.D., 
Tutor in Rhetoric and English Composition in Columbia University. 
With portrait of Shakspere. Cloth, $0,50; boards, $0.40 

[For Reading, 1903, 1904, 1905, For Study, 1906 to 1908.] 

Shakspere's A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

Edited, . with Introduction and Notes, by George Pierce Baker, 
A. B. , Assistant Professor in Harvard University. Cloth, $0.60 

The introduction is especially designed to shora the pictiwesqiieness of 
Shakspere'' s time, and the conditions of life in the London of 1600. 



Longmans, Green, &- Co.'s Publications, 



1 1 



Longmans' English QldiSSizs*— Continued, 
The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. 

From "The Spectator." Edited by D. O. S. Lowell, A.M., of the 
Roxbury Latin School, Roxbury, Mass. Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 

[For Reading* 1903 to 1908.] 

Southey's Life of Nelson. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Edwin L. Miller, A.M., of 
the Englewood High School, Illinois. Cloth, $0.75 

Tennyson's Idylls of the King: Gareth and Lynette, 
The Passing of Arthur, Lancelot and Elaine. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Sophie C. Hart, Associate 
Professor of Rhetoric in Wellesley College. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 
[For Reading, 1906, 1907, 1908.] 

Tennyson's The Princess. 

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by George Edward Wood- 
BERRY, A.B., Professor of Literature in Columbia University. 

Cloth, $0.50; boards, $0.40 
[For Reading, 1903, 1904, 1905. J 

Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration. 

Together with other Addresses relating to the Revolution, Edited, with 
Introduction and Notes, by Fred Newton Scott, Ph.D., Professor 
of Rhetoric in the University of Michigan. Cloth, $0.60 



Prof. C. B. Bradley, University 
of California ; Member of English 
Conference of the National Commit- 
tee of Ten : — ' 'Admirably adapted to 
accomplish what you intend — to in- 
terest young persons in thoughtful 
reading of noble literature. The 
help given seems just what is need- 
ed ; its generosity is not of the sort 
to make the young student unable to 
help himself, I am greatly pleased 
with the plan and with its execution. " 

Prof. Katherine Lee Bates, 

Wellesley College : — " The series is 
admirably planned, the ' Sugges- 
tions to Teachers ' being a peculiarly 
valuable feature." 

Principal George H. Browne, 

Cambridge, Mass. : — " It is the most 
attractive, most consistent, most prac- 
ticable, and, at the same time, most 



scholarly series for college prepara- 
tion yet produced." 

Byron Groce, Master in English, 
Boston Latin School : — "Asa series 
the books have two strong points : 
there is a unity of method in editing 
that I have seen in no other series : 
the books are freer from objections 
in regard to the amount and kind of 
editing than any other series I 
know." 

Charles C. Ramsay, Principal 
of Durfee High School, Fall River, 
Mass.: — "The introductions, the 
suggestions to teachers, the chrono- 
logical tables, and the notes are most 
admirable in design and execution. 
The editor-in-chief and his associates 
have rendered a distinct service to 
secondary schools." 



12 



Longmans, Green, & Co.'s Publications. 



Longmans' English Classics — Continued* 



Professor H. S. Pancoast, in 

the Educational Review, September, 
1897: — "The scope and purpose of 
Longmans' English Classics Series, 
have already been explained in the 
pages of this Revieiv. It is, there- 
fore, unnecessary to say more than a 
few words on the comprehensive ex- 
cellence of the general editor's plan, 
and its careful adaptation to the pre- 
cise object in view. The efforts of 
the Committee of Ten to improve 
the study of English in our prepara- 
tory schools are likely to be ably 
seconded by a series which will 
furnish the English text required for 
admission to college, not merely well 
edited, but, what is perhaps even 
more important, edited upon uniform 
and consistent principles. Master- 
piece after masterpiece being thus ap- 
proached in the same manner, the se- 
ries become an instrument of training 
in methods of study for both teacher 
and pupils, and, as such, a steady if 
unobtrusive influence in shaping the 
teaching of English in our schools. 

Differ as we may about the best 
way of teaching English literature 
we are likely to agree that this series 
is built in the main upon the right 
lines. It is unexceptionable in its 
outward form and habit. It gives us 
in every case a clearly printed text, 
sufficiently 'annotated, but not, as a 
rule, overweighted with pedantic 
comments ; a biographical and criti- 
cal introduction ; a bibliography, 
through which the student can find 
his way to the literary and historical 
setting of the particular classic on 
which he is engaged ; a chronological 
table and some hints to teachers — 
often of a most suggestive and help- 
ful character. In every case we thus 
have a book edited according to an 
excellent general plan. 
Taking the series as a whole, per- 
haps a trifle more stress might be 



laid on the place of the various clas- 
sics and their authors in the large 
movement of history and literature, 
but for the rest I cannot see how 
its general character could be im- 
proved." 

Albert E. Bailey, Worcester 
Academy, Worcester, Mass.: — " Ex- 
amination and comparison convinces 
me that your series is the most valu- 
able to the student and the most sug- 
gestive to the teacher." 

Mr. William Steen Gaud, 

Shattuck School, Faribault, Minn.: 
— "There is no question of the 
superiority of your series of Classics 
over any I have seen. " 

A. F. Nightingale, Supt. High 
Schools, Chicago: — "I am not in 
the habit of writing testimonials, but 
a regard for the highest interests of 
our young people preparing for col- 
lege work, makes it my duty to com- 
mend in unqualified terms your most 
excellent series of English classics. 
Nothing has been left undone. The 
editor, the annotator, the printer, 
the binder, has each in turn shown 
himself master of his work. The 
book need only to be known to be 
used, and they must soon find a way 
into every secondary school whose 
instructors in English are real teach- 
ers, intelligent and up-to-date." 

Educational Review : — "A 

very inspiring and suggestive display 
of scholarly work." 

John McDuffie, School for Girls. 
Springfield, Mass.: — " The most 
scholarly and, at the same time, the 
most teachable of any at present in 
the market." 

Martin W. Sampson, Professor 
of English, University of Indiana : — 
" The series is a credit to American 
scholarship." 



Lonomans, Green, &- Co.'s Publications. 13 



SUPPLEMENTARY READING, ETC. 

Lang — The Animal Story-Book Reader. 

Edited by Andrew Lang. With 77 illustrations by Henry J. Ford 
and Lancelot Speed. i2mo. 175 pages. $0.50* 

Brassey — A Voyage in the " Sunbeam.'* 

By Lady Brassey. Adapted for School and Class Reading. With 37 
illustrations and maps. i2mo. 384 pages. $0.75 

" This is a story of a ten months' cruise around the world. It is told 
in very brig"ht and attractive narrative, and is full of interesting in- 
formation about foreign lands. As a supplementary reading-book it 
has proved very welcome to children, and no better means of teach- 
ing geography could be found." 

Gulliver's Travels. 

The Voyage to Lilliput and the Voyage to Brobdi^gnag. By Dean 
Swift. Edited and adapted for use in schools by Thomas Parry, 
F.R.G.S. With 14 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 19? pages. $0.30* 

Higginson — Young Folks' Book of American Explorers. 

By Thomas Wentworth Higginson. With Illustrations. i2mo. 
Cloth. $1.20.** Separate parts in paper covers. Each, $0.15** 

Doyle — Micah Clarke. 

A Tale of Monmouth's Rebellion. By A. Conan Doyle, Author of 
"The Refugees," etc. Abridged and adapted for School Reading 
With Illustrations by H. R. Paget and H. R. Millar. i2mo. 216 
pages. $o.5of 

Gardiner — Historical Biographies. 

By Samuel Rawson Gardiner. i6mo. 256 pages, $0.45* 

Garrison — Parables for School and Home. 

By Wendell P. Garrison. With 21 Wood-cuts by Gustav 
Kruell. i2mo, cloth. 228 pages. $1.25 

The King's Story=Book. 

Historical Stories collected out of English Romantic Literature. Edited, 
with an Introduction, by George Laurence Gomme. Photogravure 
Frontispiece, and 21 full-page Illustrations. Crown 8vo. Cloth, extra, 
gilt top, 243 pages. $2.00 

Unifo7'm xvith the above: 

The Queen's Story=Book. 

V The Prince's Story=Book. 

The Princess's Story=Book. 



14 Longmans, Green, &- Co/s Publications. 



Roosevelt — New York. (Historic Towns.) 

By Theodore Roosevelt. With 3 Maps. i2mo. 250 pages. $1.25 
Contents: i. Discovery and First Settlement. 2. The Dutch Town 
tinder the first three Directors. 3. Stuyvesant and the End of Dutch 
Rule. 4. New Amsterdam becomes New York ; — the Beginning of Eng- 
lish Rule. 5. New York under the Stuarts, 6. The Usurpation of Leis- 
ler. 7. The Growth of the Colonial Seaport. 8. The Close of the 
Colonial Period. 9. The Unrest before the Revolution. 10. The Rev- 
olutionary War. II. The Federalist City. 12. The Beginning of 
Democratic Rule. 13. The Growth of the Commercial and Democratic 
City. 14. Recent History. Maps. 

Lodge — Boston. (Historic Towns.) 

By Henry Cabot Lodge, Author of " Life of Alexander Hamilton," 
"Daniel Webster," "George Washington," "A Short History of 
English Colonies in America," etc. With two maps. i2mo. Cloth. 
254 pages. $1.25. 

,. , uContents : I. Founding the Town. 2. The Rise of Church and State. 
3. The Defence of the Charter. 4. King Philip's War, and the Loss 
of the Charter. 5. Under the Crown. 6. Under the Province Charter. 
7. The Capital of the Province. 8. The Beginning of the Revolution. 
9. Revolution. 10. Federalist Boston. 11. The City of Boston. 
Index. Maps. 

Laughton — Sea Fights and Adventures. 

By John Knox Laughton. Crown 8vo. 310 pages with 32 illustra- 
tions, and 8 maps and plans. $2.00. 

These historical stories are strictly true. 

Macaulay — Lays of Ancient Rome, with Ivry and the 
Armada. 

With illustrations by George Scharf. Popular edition. Fcap. 4to. 
Paper cover, $0.20. Cloth, $0.40 

The Retreat of the Ten Thousand. 

By Professor C. Witt, Head-master of the Alstadt Gymnasium at 
Konigsberg. Translated by Francis Younghusband. With a Pref- 
ace by H. G. Dakyns, M.A. With Route Map. 12 Full-page Plates, 
and 17 Illustrations in the Text. Crown 8vo. $1.25 

The Trojan War. 

By Professor C. Witt. Translated from the German by Francis 
Younghusband. W^ith a Preface by the Rev. W. G. Rutherford, 
M.A., Head-master of Westminster School. Crown 8vo. $0,60.* 



Longmans, Green, &- Co.'s Publications. 15 

Chatty Readings in Elementary Science. 

Edited by A. Grace Gibson, Model Dept., N. Y. Training School for 
Teachers. Instructive lessons on the anatomy and habits of animals, 
wild and domestic, with many illustrations in color and in black and 
white. Teachers' notes, with summaries of lessons and blackboard 
work. Suitable for Third, Fourth, and Fifth grades. 
Book I., with 8 colored plates and over loo other illustrations, $0.36 
Book II., with 7 colored plates_ and nearly loo other illustrations, $0.36 
Book III., with 8 colored plates and over 80 other illustrations, $0.45 

The chief feature of the Chatty Readings is the easy conversational 
(not condescending) style in which the lessons are presented. They are 
constructed for the conveyance of elementary scientific facts in the 
most simple manner, as many technicalities as possible being studiously 
avoided ; throughout these lessons the humane treatment of animals is 
unobtrusively but consistently inculcated. 

Longmans' Household Science Reader I. 

Emphasizing the utilitarian side of nature study. For Third primary 
grade. i2mo. 133 pages. Illustrated. $0.42 

Longmans* Pictorial Geographical Reader I. 

i2mo. 160 pages. $0.36 

Designed as a supplementary reader for the grade immediately pre- 
ceding that in which a text-book is introduced. Many of the element- 
ary and necessary facts of geography are presented in simple stories, 
making a series of interesting lessons not in didactic style, but on con- 
versational lines so as to invite the interest of the young pupil to a sub- 
ject which he must shortly take up in a formal manner. 

Dodge — A Reader in Physical Geography for Beginners. 

By Richard E. Dodge, Professor of Geography, Teachers College 
(Columbia) ; Editor of the Journal of School Geography. With about 
80 illustrations, largely from original photographs by the author, chosen 
for their geographic value. Adapted to advanced grades in grammar 
schools. i2mo. 247 pages. $0.70* 

This little book has been written with the thought that hitherto no 
one volume has been available in which the more important principles 
of Physical Geography have been brought together in a form to be used 
by beginners in the subject. The demand for such a treatment of 
Physical Geography grows larger daily, and in attempting to meet that 
demand the author has aimed to adapt the subject-matter to the needs, 
the abilities, and the interests of youthful readers. For that reason 
much attention has been given to human and other life conditions, in 
so far as they are dependent upon, or determined by, the physical 
features of the world. 



i6 



Longmans, Green, &- Co.'s Publications, 



Longmans' «'Ship*' Literary Readers. 

The volumes of this series of Readers are firmly bound in cloth, 
printed in large type on good paper, and copiously illustrated. The 
selections are from the best modern writers, among them 



J. Fenimore Cooper, Captain Marryat, 
A. Conan Doyle, Cardinal Newman, 

James Anthony Froude, Charles Reade, 
Washington Irving, Henry W. Longfellow, 

James Whitcomb Riley, John G. Whittier, 



H. Rider Haggard, 

Robert L. Stevenson, 

Mark Twain, 

Bret Harte, 

R. D. Blackmore. 



The series has been adopted for the Public Schools of Brooklyn, 
Philadelphia, Cleveland, Denver, Jersey City, Bloomfield and Pas- 
saic, N. J., New York, and Portland, Me.; also in many important 
private schools. 

The chief aim of these books is to cultivate a taste for the best 
reading, and to help to give children a love for nature and for all 
that is beautiful and good. 



First Primer. Simple Reading 
and Word-building. 75 Illustrations, 
all in Color. 32 pages. $0.12* 

Second Primer, Short Stories 
and Word-building. 24 Illustrations, 
all in Color. 48 pages. $0.12* 

Infant Reader. Short Stories and 
Word-building. 30 Illustrations. 80 
pages. $0.15* 

Book I. Readings in Prose and 
Poetry ; Spelling Lessons, etc. With 
87 Illustrations. i2mo. 128 pages. 

$0.25* 

Book 2. Readings in Prose and 
Poetry : Spelling, Word-building, 
and Dictation Lessons. With 84 
Illustrations. i2mo. 128 pages. 
$0.25* 



Book 3. Readings in Prose and 
Poetry : Spelling, Word-building, 
and Dictation Lessons. 84 Illustra- 
tions, i2mo. 192 pages. $0.35^ 

Book 4. Readings in Prose and 
Poetry : Spelling, Dictation, and 
Composition Lessons. 55 Illustra- 
tions. i2mo. 208 pages. $0.40* 

Book 5. Readings in Prose and 
Poetry : Consisting of Original Mat- 
ter, and Selections from Standard 
Authors. Composition and Word- 
building Lessons. 46 Illustrations. 
i2mo. 240 pages. $0.45* 

Book 6. Readings in Prose and 
Poetry. Consisting of Original Mat- 
ter and Selections from Standard 
Authors. Composition and Word- 
building Lessons. 38 Illustrations. 
i2mo. 288 pages. $0.45* 



Advanced Reader. Modem Prose Literature of England. 286 pages, 
fully illustrated. $0.60* 



Longmans, Green, & Go's Publications. 17 

ANDREW LANG^S BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. 

The extended use of Mr. Andrew Lang's Stories and Fairy Tales 
in Schools and Libraries has led to the preparation of abridged edi- 
tions of certain volumes at lower prices, and in other ways especi- 
ally adapted for School and Class use. 

The Blue Poetry Book. 

New Edition without Illustrations, for Use in Schools, with Lives of the 
Authors of the Poems. i6mo. $0.60* 



etic genius, and the children who 
read it can hardly fail to develop a 
taste for good literature. 



Christian at Work : — The vol- 
ume is, in short, a treasure-house of 
the best and noblest creations of po- 

The Blue True Story Book. 

Adapted for Use in Schools. Containing the Story of Grace Darling; 
An Artist's Adventure ; The Tale of Rorke's Drift ; The Chevalier 
Johnstone's Escape; The Conquest of Montezuma's Empire, and other 
Stories. With 22 Illustrations. i2mo. 150 pages. $0.50* 

The Red True Story Book. 

Adapted for Use in Schools. Containing Wilson's Last Fight ; The Life 
and Death of Joan the Maid; The Conquest of Peru; How Marbot 
Crossed the Danube, and other Stories. With 41 Illustrations. 186 
pages. $0. 50* 

Fairy Books and Story Books. 

Mr. Lang's larger Fairy Tale books are as follows : THE BLUE 
FAIRY BOOK; THE RED FAIRY BOOK; THE GREEN 
FAIRY BOOK; THE PINK FAIRY BOOK; THE YELLOW 
FAIRY BOOK; THE ANIMAL STORY BOOK; THE TRUE 
STORY BOOK; THE RED TRUE STORY BOOK ; THE BLUE 
POETRY BOOK; MY OWN FAIRY BOOK; THE RED BOOK 
OF ANIMAL STORIES; ARABIAN NIGHTS; THE GREY 
FAIRY BOOK. Each $2.00. THE VIOLET FAIRY BOOK; 
THE BOOK OF ROMANCE. Each $1.60 net. With many Plates 
and Illustrations. Crown 8vo. Gih edges. 

Longmans* Supplementary Readers. 
Prince Darling, And Other Stories. 

Including The White Cat, The Wonderful Sheep, etc. With 39 Illus. 
trations. 216 pages. $0.40* 

The Princess on the Glass Hill, And Other Stories. 

Including The Terrible Head, etc. With 27 Illustrations. 168 pages. 
$0.30* 



1 8 Longmans, Green, &- Go's Publications, 

Longmans* Supplementary Readers — Continued* 
The History of Whittington, And Other Stories. 

Including Aladdin, The Forty Thieves, etc. With 27 Illustrations. 
168 pages, $0.30* 

The Sleeping Beauty, And Other Stories. 

Including The Bronze Ring, etc. With 25 Illustrations. 120 Dages. 
$0.20* 

Jack the Giant Killer, And Other Stories. 

Including Prince Hyacinth, etc. With 22 Illustrations. 120 pages. 
$0.20* 

Cinderella; or. The Little Glass Slipper, And Other 
Stories. 

With 20 Illustrations. 104 pages. $0.20* 

Little Red Riding Hood, And Other Stories. 

Including Hansel and Grettel, etc. W^ith 25 Illustrations. 104 pages. 
$0.20* 

Infant Fairy Readers. Square i6mo. Large type, limp. Each 
$0.15* 

A Fairy Tale of a Fox, a Dog, a Cat, and a Magpie. 

By Lois Bates. With 21 Illustrations. 

Jack and the Bean Stalk, and Brother and Sister. 

Edited by Mrs. Heller. With 11 Illustrations. 

Snowdrop, and Other Stories. 

Edited by Mrs. Heller. With 7 Illustrations. 



Selections from the Poets. 

Wordsworth. Edited by Andrew Lang. With Photogravure Frontis- 
piece of Rydal Mount, 16 Illustrations and numerous Initial Letters by 
Alfred Parsons, A. R. A. Crown 8vo. $1.50 

Coleridge. Edited by Andrew Lang. With Frontispiece and 16 Full- 
Page Illustrations by Patten W^ilson. Crown 8vo. $1.25 

Longmans' Junior School Poetry Book. Selected and Arranged 
by W. Peterson, LL.D., of McGill University, Montreal. i2mo. 
152 pages. 50 cents. 



Lommans, Green, &- Co.'s Publications. 



19 



Marsland — Interpretive Reading. 

A Manual of Elocution and Oratory for use in Normal and Secondary 
Schools and Colleges. By Cora Marsland, State Normal School, 
Emporia, Kan. i2mo. 248 pages. With numerous diagrams. $1.12* 

Contents: Part I. Interpretive Reading. Interpretive Reading 
that Appeals to the Understanding. Interpretive Reading that Appeals 
to the Emotions. Interpretive Reading or Speaking that Appeals to the 
Will. — Part II. Breathing. Physiology of the Respiratory Organs. 
Breathing Exercises. — Part III. Voice Culture. Physiology of the 
Vocal Organs. The Production of Tone. Voice Culture. The Organs 
of Articulation. — Part IV. Gesture. Relaxing Exercises. Poising 
Exercises. Principles of Gesture. Responsive Gesture Exercises. — 
Index. 



Mrs. Margaret S. Mooney, 

State Normal College, Albany, N. 
V. : — •" My idea of the real value of 
anew book is always based upon one 
fact — Has the author advanced his 
subject ? Tried by this test the book 
is a distinct advance, particularly in 
the clear and simple arrangement of 
the successive steps. The triple aim 
— to exercise the mind, the emotions, 
and the will — has been well carried 
out. It is by far the most satisfac- 
tory work on elocution that I have 
ever seen. I shall recommend it to 
my present class as well as to all 
classes I may have in the future." 

The Hon. Frank Nelson, State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
Kansas : — " This book occupies a dis- 
tinct place in the broad field of read- 
ing. Miss Marsland has presented 
the subject in line with the most 
modern ideas in reading, and her 
method is so thoroughly pedagogi- 
cal that the student cannot fail to 
secure much help from a thorough 
mastery of the text." 

A. S. Humphrey, Department 
of Oratory, Knox College : — ''I am 
pleased with its freshness and with 
its suggestiveness. To my mind it is 
of more practical value . . . than 
any book I have yet seen." 

Miss Carolyn B. Ayres, Syra- 
cuse University, Syracuse, N. Y. : — 
* ' After a very careful review I can 



say in all sincerity that it is the most 
helpful book of its kind I have seen, 
abounding, as it does, in clear, practi- 
cal suggestions for the conception and 
presentation of the author's thought 
and feeling as expressed through 
voice and body. No one, it seems to 
me, can fail to ' suit the action to the 
word, and the word to the action,' 
if they follow conscientiously the 
principles laid down in Miss Mars- 
land's most suggestive book." 

Miss Mary F. Hendrick, Teach- 
er of Elocution, S.N.S., Cortland, 
N. Y. : — "A volume that ought to 
be in all the high schools in the coun- 
try. As a study of interpretation it 
is the best thing that I have seen. 
The chapter on gesture is just what 
the young student needs, a few laws 
that are easily applied and the foun- 
dation of all easy work." 

President A. R. Taylor, James 
Milliken University, Decatur, 111.: — 
" I have carefully read her book and 
feel that she has succeeded admirably 
in preparing a work on the art of in- 
terpretation and expression that will 
prove of incalculable value in all 
classes of secondary and higher in- 
stitutions of learning. The value of 
the interpretative work she so wisely 
develops has been so fully demon- 
strated in high places that I believe 
it will find general and enthusiastic 
acceptance among teachers of read- 
ing and elocution everywhere." 



20 Longmmis, Green, &- Go's Publications. 



Baynes — Shakespeare Studies and Other Essays. 

By Thomas Spencer Baynes, LL.D., late Professor of Logic, Meta- 
physics, and English Literature in the University of St. Andrews, and 
Editor of the Ninth Edition of the •' Encyclopaedia Britannica." With 
a Biographical Preface by Professor Lewis Campbell. Crown 8vo. 
425 pages. $2.50 

Contents: Shakespeare. — What Shakespeare Learnt at School. 
— Shakespearian Glossaries. — New Shakespearian Interpretations. 
— English Dictionaries. 



^o' 



BosweII=Stone — Shakspere*s Holinshed. 

The Chronicles and the Historical Plays Compared. By W. G. Bos- 
well- Stone. Crown quarto, gilt top. $5.00 

In Shakspere's Holinshed the historical plays are compared, 
scene by scene, with passages chiefly derived from Holinshed's 
Chronicles ; supplemented by illustrations taken from other sources 
— Foxe's Acts and Monuments, for example — which even Holin- 
shed's massive tomes did not embrace. 

The excerpts are generally accompanied by prefatory words, nar- 
rating the dramatic action in the dramatic order, and noticing, as 
they occur, all important variations of historic chronology and his- 
toric facts. 

Madden. The Diary of Master William Silence ; A Study 
of Shakespeare and of Elizabethan Sport. 

By the Right Hon. D. H. Madden, Vice-Chancellor of the University of 
Dublin. "With Illustrations. 8vo. $4.00 

Warner. English History in Shakspeare's Plays. 

By Rev. Beverley E. Warner. Crown 8vo. 331 pages. $1.75 

A work of great value to the student of history, showing what an 
aid to the understanding of certain important phases of England's 
national development lies in these historical plays, which cover a 
period of three hundred years — from King John to Henry VIII. 

Worsfold. The Principles of Criticism. 

An Introduction to the Study of Literature. By W. Basil Worsfold, 
M. A., of University College, Oxford. New Edition. i2mo. $1.12 net. 
Postage extra. 



or: IE 1903 



